I've been trying to squeeze RS485 serial interfaces, current feedback and all that kind of stuff onto a PCB that is small enough to fit inside an RC servo so that it is more suited to a computer's control than a human's radio transmitter. BUt it's proving to be very difficult, not to mention you have to open up the servo and sometimes the PCB Is glued inside and not removable.
But then I started thinking...do you really want that on something like a plane? Like do you want a motor on the plane to cut-out if you are driving it too hard? It's not like a car where the vehicle would just safely stop.
The problem with an RC servo is you tell it where to go, and it tries to go there with all its might. But the servo's control loop is stuck inside the servo and the computer cannot read if the servo was actually ever able to get to that position or not (the main reason I wanted to hack it in the first place). THen there's all the stuff about current limiting etc.
But suppose you did detect the servo wasn't able to generate enough torque to reach the desired position, what would you have the computer do in such a case? Or if you detected that the servo was drawing too much current? Would you just shut it off to let it cool down? Or would you keep pushing it to make sure the plane doesn't go out of control? After all, not a ground vehicle, but a plane that can crash, and an improper attempt to save a servo might result in the loss of the plane.
But then I started thinking...do you really want that on something like a plane? Like do you want a motor on the plane to cut-out if you are driving it too hard? It's not like a car where the vehicle would just safely stop.
The problem with an RC servo is you tell it where to go, and it tries to go there with all its might. But the servo's control loop is stuck inside the servo and the computer cannot read if the servo was actually ever able to get to that position or not (the main reason I wanted to hack it in the first place). THen there's all the stuff about current limiting etc.
But suppose you did detect the servo wasn't able to generate enough torque to reach the desired position, what would you have the computer do in such a case? Or if you detected that the servo was drawing too much current? Would you just shut it off to let it cool down? Or would you keep pushing it to make sure the plane doesn't go out of control? After all, not a ground vehicle, but a plane that can crash, and an improper attempt to save a servo might result in the loss of the plane.