Integrated high-speed torque control system for a robotic joint

A printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) for controlling the torque output of a motor-driven joint in a robot, the robot having a control circuit adapted for providing both Cartesian control and impedance-based control of the robot without also controlling the torque output, the PCBA comprising:

• a joint processor;
• and
• a high-speed bus providing a calibrated data transfer rate between the PCBA and the high-level control circuit;
• wherein the motor-driven joint is driven by at least one joint motor, and wherein the PCBA is adapted for providing feedback-based torque control of the at least one joint motor in a control loop of at least approximately 10 KHz.

A robot comprising:

• a plurality of joint motors;
• a plurality of motor-driven joints each being driven by at least one of the joint motors;
• and
• a control system comprising:
• a high-level control circuit;
• and
• a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) including a processor and a high-speed bus, the bus providing a calibrated data transfer rate between the PCBA and the high-level control circuit;
• wherein the PCBA is adapted for controlling a torque output of a corresponding one of the joint motors using a feedback control loop of at least approximately 10 KHz, and wherein the high-level control circuit provides both Cartesian control and impedance-based control of the robot without also controlling the torque output.