TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Published 2026-01-19
Have you encountered anything similar? A motor is reliable, but when it's working with dozens of other devices, the system becomes unpredictable? Instead of talking about advanced theory today, let’s talk about how to rethink the organization of the control system like building blocks.
Imagine you are in charge of an assembly line. Six servo motors are responsible for precise positioning, three servos complete angle fine-tuning, and the robotic arm carries parts at a fixed rhythm. Initially, all control logic was written in a central controller - this was very common, like cramming all the furniture into a room. It looked neat at first, but as needs changed, it required rummaging around every time it was adjusted.
One day, the speed of the packaging section needs to be temporarily increased by 20%, but you find that adjusting a parameter will actually affect the upstream positioning accuracy. Or, when a certain sensor data is abnormal, the entire system log becomes a mess and it is difficult to trace the source of the problem. More commonly, when you want to change one of the motor models, you have to rewrite a lot of the associated code.
These are not "glitches", but a whisper from the architecture that it's time to organize your system differently.
We can change our thinking - what if the control logic of each motor can run independently? for example:
This approach has a name, called microservice architecture. Don't be intimidated by the terminology, its essence is simple: break down a large system into a set of small services that can be independently developed, deployed, and expanded independently. Just like Lego bricks, each piece has a clear function, but the joining method can be flexibly adjusted.
One may ask: "Does this add complexity?" Good question. In the short term, you need to design some standards for communication between services (such as clearly defined data formats), but in the long term, it reduces the unintended coupling of the system. When a module needs an upgrade, you don't need to stop the entire production line to test all functionality.
Servo motors and mechanical systems have a characteristic: they tend to run for a long time. The production line may continue to work for five or ten years, during which time there will be countless partial and component replacements and new functions. Traditional monolithic architecture is like a huge oil painting, and modifying any detail may require redrawing the entire canvas.
The microservice architecture is like a set of sketchbooks, with each sheet recording specific functions. Do you want to modify the grabbing logic of the robotic arm? You only need to update that part of the service and ensure that it talks to other modules normally while the interface remains unchanged.
kpowerWhen assisting customers to implement this type of architecture, we often see several interesting changes:
If you find this architecture interesting, you can try it in three steps:
Step 1: Draw functional boundaries. Take out a piece of paper and partition your control system according to physical functions. Which parts are tightly coupled (such as drive and feedback processing from the same motor)? Which parts only occasionally exchange data (e.g. feeding mechanism and quality inspection unit)? Natural physical boundaries are often a good starting point for microservice partitioning.
Step 2: Define dialogue rules Services need to communicate, just like workers on a production line need to hand over semi-finished products. Agree on the data format - for example, all location information includes timestamp, unit, and confidence level; all instructions have unique numbers for easy tracking. These rules don’t have to be perfect from the start, but clear conventions can avoid confusion later on.
Step 3: Refactor from the ground up There is no need to rewrite the entire system at once. Pick a module that needs improvement recently (such as that packaging section servo motor that gives you a headache) and transform it into an independent service first. After verifying that the operation is stable, then gradually expand. This gradual change is more friendly to the continuous operation of the production line.
I often think of the friend I mentioned at the beginning. When he started to reorganize part of the control logic using microservice ideas, he not only solved the problem of response delay, but also unexpectedly discovered that his team began to divide labor more naturally. The engineer responsible for the mechanical structure focuses on motion planning services, and the electrical engineer is deeply involved in the drive control module. The two collaborate through clearly defined interfaces, rather than annotating each other in the same code file.
This may be another gift of architecture: it not only organizes code, but also organizes the way people collaborate. When each functional module has clear boundaries of responsibilities, maintenance becomes something that can be promoted in parallel.
Of course, no architecture is a silver bullet. Microservices will bring network communication considerations between services and require more detailed monitoring design. But for those hardware control systems that require long-term evolution and frequent localization, this "divide and conquer" philosophy can often bring unexpected ease.
At the end of the day, technical architecture is like room layout. Some people like to put everything in an open space, which is clear at a glance but difficult to adjust locally; some people prefer to give each function a separate room, which requires a few more steps in the initial stage, but each space can be renovated at its own pace.
What kind of room does your system look like now?
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.
Update Time：2026-01-19
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