Standard Motor Driver Schematic for FRC

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by ProfessorAlekM

You would be surprised would students can do. It's really not hard to make motor controllers, I've made them myself before and I'm only in 9th grade.

Ah, to be a teenager and know everything again.

It's not hard to make a motor controller.

It's hard to design one that interfaces with standard hobby servo signals, provides sustained performance at 40 amps and occasional transients approaching 200 amps, is proven to perform as advertised so the robot can be certified as following the rules, is rugged enough to withstand the abuse it will take on an FRC robot, doesn't pose shock or fire hazards to its users, etc. It's hard to build one to those specifications without having resources, skills, and experience.

...our team has spent hundreds of the dollars on motor controllers.

If you're expecting to be able to save "hundreds of the dollars" by building your own motor speed controllers, I suspect you're failing to consider a lot of details.