Velocity control of position-controlled motor controllers

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operation comprising:

• determining a target velocity for a motor, wherein a position-controlled motor controller is configured to drive the motor to a commanded position with a characteristic acceleration profile;
• determining a target position that, when commanded to the motor controller, is predicted to cause the motor controller to drive the motor with the target velocity at a target time point by driving the motor with the characteristic acceleration profile;
• and
• providing an instruction for execution by the position-controlled motor controller, the instruction configured to cause the position-controlled motor controller to drive the motor to the target position.

A system comprising:

• a motor;
• a position-controlled motor controller configured to drive the motor to a commanded position with a characteristic acceleration profile;
• and
• a control system configured to:
• determine a target velocity for the motor;
• determine a target position that, when commanded to the motor controller, is predicted to cause the motor controller to drive the motor with the target velocity at a target time point by driving the motor with the characteristic acceleration profile;
• and
• provide an instruction for execution by the position-controlled motor controller, the instruction configured to cause the position-controlled motor controller to drive the motor to the target position.