Celera Motion Summit Designer simplifies PCB design for robots

Listen to this article

Celera Motion, a business unit of Novanta Inc., launched its Summit Designer tool that delivers standard market-ready printed circuit board (PCB) designs for robotic applications.

Celera Motion, headquartered in Bedford, Mass., is a provider of motion-control components and subsystems for OEMs serving a variety of medical and advanced industrial markets. Celera Motion said it offers precision encoders, motors and customized mechatronic solutions. Celera Motion will be exhibiting in booth 335 of the Robotics Summit & Expo, the world’s premier commercial robotics development event that takes place May 10-11 in Boston.

Summit Designer is an open-source PCB design library featuring a diverse and vast offering of market-ready application-specific PCBs that are designed, supported and updated by experts. It is a new way to develop compact robot joints, multi-axis mobile robotics systems, industrial end-effectors and surgical robots, among many others.

“Summit Designer allows developers to create an ideal application using tested and proven PCB Designs,” said Marc Vila, director of strategy and business development, Celera Motion. “This ingenious new platform cuts development time, decreases the chances of error and reduces prototype iterations. That’s more important than ever as markets evolve faster and grow more competitive. Unexpected delays can be catastrophic to projects.”

According to Celera Motion, every design is open-source and consists of a fully customizable and fully documented Altium project. Users only have to choose and add their desired modules to create a fully functional servo drive design for a market-ready robot. The options are designed to satisfy the most common requirements, such as
type of connectors, communication protocols, safety functions and motor and encoder specifications. Users then receive a fully scalable and modular download file, ready to edit at their convenience. Experts are available to answer questions and guide users.

Celera Motion said the entire process takes five steps:

• 1. Bring an idea for a new motion control application to the Summit Designer website
• 2. Check the PCB designs there to find the one that fits your needs
• 3. Customize it with our in-depth application guide
• 4. Talk to our experts and get support whenever needed
• 5. Plug into a Summit Drive and go to market

“Summit Designer was developed by top experts in motion control applications and robotics,” Vila said. “Our goal was to make the process as simple, flexible and seamless as possible. Each project allows for high customization and provides all the necessary tools in a single download.”