Direct Motion

For AI agents: the Markdown edition of this page is applications.md; the site index for agents is llms.txt.

What you can build

DM's control has run production machine tools since 2005. Nothing in it is specific to machine tools. The amplifiers drive servo and induction motors. The IO boards read sensors and switch valves, lamps and grippers. The library gives a .NET program coordinated motion, independent axes, velocity control and IO events. What the machine does is decided by the program, and the program can be written by an AI.

Machine tools

Mills, lathes, routers, grinders and special-purpose machines, 3 to 5 axes with their kinematics, spindles to the 300 A drive. 4C provides the CAD, CAM and operator screen if you want them.

Factory automation

Conveyors, indexing tables, pick-and-place, cut-to-length, labeling, press-fit and assembly stations, packaging lines. Speed control, point-to-point moves, sensors and outputs in one program.

Robots

Cartesian and gantry robots are coordinated linear axes. For SCARA, delta and jointed arms your code supplies the kinematics, and the planner applies them to every point it sends to the drives.

Test rigs and stages

Motor and endurance test stands, positioning stages, moving fixtures. Every axis records a 20 kHz trace of position, current and faults, so every test leaves a record.

Spindles, pumps, fans

Induction or servo motors held at a speed, with field-oriented control and field weakening above base speed. DM's own machines run coolant pumps as ordinary named axes.

Your machine

If it is built from motors, sensors and outputs, it is a .NET program away. Tell us what it is and we will say plainly whether DM fits.

What a machine needs, and what DM gives it

The machine needs to… DM gives you
run at a speed (conveyor, pump, spindle) velocity mode on any axis; 0 stops
go to a position (indexer, gate, door, lift) absolute moves with set accel and decel; rotary axes that turn without end
follow a path (gantry, dispenser, cutter, laser) coordinated lines and arcs, look-ahead, smooth blending, feed hold and override
find a part or a mark stop a move on an input; read the exact position the driver captured when the input switched
push until it is tight (press-fit, clamp) moves that stop when motor load or current passes a limit you set
move an arm a kinematics hook in the planner: your code turns a straight path into joint moves, 20,000 times a second
switch lamps, valves, grippers; watch interlocks named inputs and outputs with change events
show what happened a 20 kHz trace of every axis, and your own values logged alongside

Check these before you plan