Assignments, schedule, syllabus:

Monday	Wednesday	Thursday
(10/9: Vacation)	Taking apart printers, some quadrature intro	Day 2: PWM, transistors. Homework #1 (due Monday)
Day 3: Using the LMD18200 motor driver chip. (using the surplus power supplies we have) Homework #2 (due next Monday)	Day 4: Catch-up day, current sensing.	Day 5: Intro to control theory, Position control (1).
Day 6: Decoding quadrature, optimizing PIC code for speed	Day 7: Motor modeling, Position control (2)	Day 8: Intro to theory of h-bridge design, Position control (3) Homework #3: Design a motor driver.
Day 9: Related topics: Building your own motor drivers	Day 10: Related topics: Driving AC loads, stepper and hobbyist RC servo motors	Day 11: TBA

Other useful resources:

Details of the power supplies we bought

Some quick notes about the motors, including encoder pinouts

Where to buy mechanical and electrical components (surplus or new)

Datasheets of the components we use

Topics will be some subset of (depending on time and interest):

• Controlling motors electronically, including direction and speed
• Sensing motor current, speed, and torque
• Various analog and digital ways to drive motors, from simple and very cheap solutions to expensive and very powerful solutions
• Building your own motor drivers for low-cost or high-current situations
• Solving common problems caused by motors (kickback, safety, noise, etc.)
• Stepper motors, DC motors, and servo motors (hobby plastic servos or homemade servos)
• Rotary and linear bearings and mechanisms
• feedback, control theory, torque-speed curves, and whatever other topics we can fit in.

Some prior electronics and programmable microcontroller experience required (the REC microcontroller seminar is acceptable preparation).

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