Rock ESC - a new open source ESC

H

hols

Banned
Hello everybody,

My name is Adam Miłosz and I'm on of the guys working on Rock ESC.


Just to give you the idea of the ESC that we want to develop, here are the highlights of the planned features:
• super fast motor response time,
• overcurrent protection,
• open source software,
• high current handling - up to 50A or 85A (with additional FETs),
• 3s-6s capable
• hardware capable of handling advanced control algorithms,
• MK compatible - the same basic I2C protocol,
• PPM, I2C, UART and CAN interfaces supported,
• USB interface - connect it directly to your PC, no need for additional converters,
• custom startup tunes.


So basically Rock is a high performance, easy to use ESC that is designed for heavy lift aircraft.

The project is being financed through a crowd funding campaign at IndieGoGo.com, so for more details click here: http://www.indiegogo.com/Rock-ESC?a=314216


Consider supporting this project!
The way it works is through a reward system. By the time Rock ESC is finished everybody who will contribute will get a reward, based on the donation amount. So what's it in for you?


To put it simply, by backing this project you will get:
• fine ESCs,
• badges,
• t-shirts,
• open source software
• a wiki page
• artistic value (?!) - see perk 2 on the right at IndieGoGo,
• updates on our progress
• future products,
• your personal satisfaction.


By backing Rock ESC you are helping us manufacture the first line of ESC. We also want to use the funds to get the equipment needed to finish this project - an oscilloscope, an ammeter, different motors and batteries.

There is no risk for you as a supporter - if we fail to raise a sum that's sufficient to complete the project, your donations will be returned.

Here is the promo-video:
 
Last edited by a moderator:


S

szmodz

New Member
matwelli said:
cool project, what's the features like compared to http://forums.openpilot.org/topic/7537-openpilot-esc-flies/ from openpilot, I think its great that multirotor taylored esc's are finally being made
Click to expand...

Here's what stands out when comparing their explicitly written feature set:
The Open Pilot ESC works with 2s-4s batteries, while Rock ESC will handle 3s-6s by default. 5s and 6s support will be useful on heavy lift craft.


Our ESC will also support direct USB connection to a PC for easy firmware update, configuration and testing, regardless of the used autopilot.


There seem to be more differences than that though. This is what I can additionally gather by looking at their photos:


The basic version of our ESC will be able to handle more current. Even if you don't need the extra current, it will run cooler and be more efficient when running with similar loads.


The OpenPilot ESC is also claimed to support CAN bus, just like ours, but there are essential components missing in their implementation. First, they don't have a CAN transceiver. While you could connect the transceiver externally hanging on a bunch of wires, that's rather inelegant and fragile. Second, I can't see any external clock source connected to the MCU. The internal oscillator is not good enough for CAN.


I want to stress that these observations are based on the photos only, and therefore may be inaccurate or bound to change.


What's with all this CAN, you ask? We and some others have found the currently used I2C and PPM solutions to be unreliable. CAN on the other hand is specifically designed for reliability in this kind of applications. While no currently available autopilot communicates with ESCs using CAN, this will change. The Paparazzi Lisa/L has hardware support for CAN, so it's only a matter of writing the software. We will also be preparing our own CAN-based solution.


To sum it up, we aim at a superset of features tailored for reliable heavy-lift multirotors (i.e. for carrying heavy cams). Both projects aim at providing fast motor response and update rates - this is the main thing that makes them well suited for multirotors. The common features might be implemented differently though. Time will tell if that will make any practical difference.
 

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