introduction and background of microservices

Microservices: When mechanical projects meet the "squad" philosophy

Have you ever wondered why complex mechanical systems—such as those precise robotic arms or automated production lines—sometimes cause headaches? Maybe a certain servo motor responds half a beat slower, or the entire system has to stop working for a long time because of a modification. The traditional large-scale monolithic architecture is like a large and precise clock. If one gear gets stuck, the entire rhythm may be disrupted.

At this time, we have to talk about "microservices". Don’t be intimidated by this word, the idea behind it is actually quite intuitive. Imagine that instead of building a giant control center to manage all the servos, sensors, and robotic arms, you divide them into small teams. Each team is independently responsible for a clear task: for example, the servo motor control responsible for position feedback is one team, the one that processes the steering gear angle command is another, and the one that coordinates the mechanical sequence is yet another separate team. These small units (aka microservices) work independently but talk to each other through clear protocols.

What exactly does this solve?

In the past, if you needed to upgrade a motor driver, you might have to shut down the entire system and retest everything. What now? You just have to adjust the squad that's responsible for that. Other mechanical modules – such as the steering gear unit responsible for clamping or the linear motor unit responsible for conveying – operate as usual and are almost unaffected. It's like Lego bricks, you can replace one piece at any time without having to dismantle the entire piece.

Some people may ask: "Wouldn't it be more difficult to manage if it is broken down this way?" Good question. At first glance, multiple independent services seem to add complexity. But from another perspective, the responsibilities of each team are simpler. They can be developed and tested independently, even using different programming languages ​​or frameworks - as long as the interfaces are agreed upon. For mechanical projects, this means you can choose the most real-time set of code for high-performance servo motor control, and another set of tools for data logging and analysis that is better at handling large amounts of information. Everyone takes advantage of their strengths.

What tangible benefits does it bring?

It's resilience. In a monolithic architecture, a bug in a non-critical function may paralyze the entire production line. Under the microservice architecture, if there is a temporary problem with the "status monitoring" team, the core service responsible for "motion execution" can usually continue to work, giving you time to troubleshoot.

is scalability. When your mechanical platform needs to bear a larger load - such as a sudden increase in visual recognition tasks - you do not need to expand the entire system, you only need to add resources to the "squad" responsible for image processing. It's economical and flexible.

It's technical freedom. Teams can choose the most appropriate technology stack for different mechanical modules. The module responsible for high-speed real-time control can use C++, while the module responsible for upper-layer task scheduling and logging may be more efficient using Python. This freedom inspires more and innovation.

It sounds great, but what should you pay attention to when implementing it?

Of course, microservices are not a magic wand. It requires clear upfront design and ongoing operational awareness. How do services communicate with each other? How to unify the data format? How to centrally manage logs and monitoring? These need to be carefully considered. Especially for mechanical systems, real-time and reliability are often the lifeline, so network latency and failover mechanisms have been rigorously verified.

It's not a panacea either. For extremely simple mechanical devices with few changes, introducing microservices may be unnecessary. It is more suitable for projects of medium or larger size that require continuous iteration and expansion.

This leads to a core question: How to choose the components that are suitable for you? No matter how advanced the architecture is, the basic reliability of the hardware will always be the cornerstone. In the world of machinery and automation, the physical execution units of each "squad"—such as servo motors and steering gears—are accurate, durable, and stable enough. Their performance directly determines whether the upper-layer architecture can run smoothly.

Having said this, we naturally have higher requirements for the core components that make up these "squads". existkpower, we understand this need. From the servo motor that provides stable torque to the steering gear that achieves precise angle control, every component has been rigorously tested to ensure that they can become reliable and efficient execution units in a distributed microservice architecture. When the "teams" at the software level perform their duties, the excellent performance of the hardware allows the potential of the entire system to be truly unleashed.

So, when you’re planning your next machinery or automation project, think outside the “big and comprehensive” box. Using microservices is like setting up a special team with clear division of labor and flexible collaboration for your precise mechanical system. And ensuring that every member of this team has extraordinary skills is the prerequisite for achieving all this. All that's left is to watch them work together to create more agile and powerful works.

Established in 2005,kpowerhas been dedicated to a professional compact motion unit manufacturer, headquartered in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, China. Leveraging innovations in modular drive technology,kpowerintegrates high-performance motors, precision reducers, and multi-protocol control systems to provide efficient and customized smart drive system solutions. Kpower has delivered professional drive system solutions to over 500 enterprise clients globally with products covering various fields such as Smart Home Systems, Automatic Electronics, Robotics, Precision Agriculture, Drones, and Industrial Automation.