Hardware

Motor Controller

A motor controller is the electronic subsystem that drives a motor to follow commanded torque, velocity, or position, combining power electronics that switch current into the windings with feedback control running on an embedded processor. For the brushless motors common in robotics, field-oriented control (FOC) regulates torque smoothly using rotor position from an encoder, with nested velocity and position loops above and communication over buses such as CAN or EtherCAT.

Why it matters for physical AI

Torque-mode motor control at kilohertz rates is the foundation for compliant, contact-safe behavior; the quality of this innermost loop bounds what any higher-level learned controller can achieve.