Hi all, thank you for your kind attention.
My question is on how to interface an Arduino (Mega) with 2 types of motor controllers from Maxon. The motor and controllers are the following:
Motor: EC-45 FLAT 50W - Online shop for high precise drive systems by maxon | maxon group
Controller 1: EPOS2 50/5 - Online shop for high precise drive systems by maxon | maxon group
Controller 2: ESCON 50/5 - Online shop for high precise drive systems by maxon | maxon group
Cubli: http://www.idsc.ethz.ch/research-dandrea/research-projects/cubli.html
My degree project is to implement a one-dimensional Cubli, by which I will use the motor mentioned above and controlled by one of the controllers mentioned above. In the original Cubli project the motor was controlled with Controller 1 and interfaced with an STM microcontroller.
What I want is to use an Arduino microcontroller, therefore my questions are the following:
Controller 1 has interfaces USB, CANOpen and RS232 and I am aware of the existence of Arduino Shields. Are they complex to use, and more importantly can they be used for this motor controlelr?
Controller 2 somehow can be used with Arduino, but I don't know essentially how to perform it right now, the only source is the video Motor control of Maxon EC 90 with Escon 50/5 and Arduino UNO - YouTube. Also, this controller only has USB interface, so my question is - how can I communicate the ESCON controller with the Arduino and is it possible for this interface only using USB? Till now I am assuming that the EC-45 FLAT motor is compatible with Controller 2, so any feedback on this aswell will also be greatly appreciate it.
Lastly, maybe someone has recommendation on which controller is better than the other with respect to difficulty level?
Any required additional info needed please do not hesitate to contact me back.
Thank you again for your kind attention and I look forward for a reply.
Darren Busuttil
Darren.Busuttil.a103229@mcast.edu.mt