pic: SPARK Motor Controller from REV Robotics

[Greg Needel]

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For more information please visit http://www.revrobotics.com/product/spark/

[Greg Needel]

Two months ago we released a video message stating our company mission, to provide quality parts and components at prices that are affordable for teams. Today we are proud to launch another new product which we think teams will really like. The Spark motor controller is the result of more than 10 months of engineering with a focus on bullet proof performance and the lowest price ever available to teams. The Spark will be available to order and ship within the next few weeks for a price of $45 from both Amazon (Prime) and REVrobotics.com

In addition to the price, we have put a strong emphasis on usability for teams. In addition to the features teams have come to expect from their motor controllers, we added extras, like limit switch inputs that help make building smarter mechanisms easy. We also enhanced some of the features teams like with a few simple modifications, like making the LED full color for better team feedback and providing a better method for cable retention of the included PWM cable.

As with all of our products moving forward, we are going to be releasing the full documentation of the product including our CAD, board schematics, and development process so that people can learn from both using the product and the actual product itself. We plan to have all documentation released by the end of 2015, so that teams have all of the information that they need for the FRC build season.

We are very excited to bring the SPARK to the community and hope that our ability to deliver this product at a great value will directly help many teams. We also hope that new competition in the market causes other suppliers of similar components to adjust their pricing to stay competitive. It is our belief that lower priced components are good for everyone and something that we will continue to strive for.


We appreciate your support of REV Robotics and our products. We will continue to try to make the experience of building robots better for everyone.

Thanks,

Greg Needel
REV Robotics CEO and Co-Founder

[AdamHeard]

Price?

EDIT: Sorry, didn't refresh!

[Greg Needel]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

Price?

$45

[jkelleyrtp]

Oh my... $45 for a motor controller of (presumably) the same caliber for Talon SRXs and Victors? Niiice. Is the limit switch wired directly to the controller and is there CAN support?

[Ty Tremblay]

Originally Posted by jkelleyrtp

Oh my... $45 for a motor controller of (presumably) the same caliber for Talon SRXs and Victors? Niiice. Is the limit switch wired directly to the controller and is there CAN support?

It's closer to a Talon SR / Victor SP. No CAN support, PWM only.

[PayneTrain]

With rookies getting up to 5 free SRs and having the option for a $45 motor controller, that's going to put a lot of new teams at ease. Awesome.

[AllenGregoryIV]

This looks pretty cool Greg. Also the color scheme blends with out robots a little better as well.

The top flat surface seems like it will be very easy to put a label on which can be a bit tricky with the fins on some of the other controllers like the talon SRs.

[Greg Needel]

Originally Posted by jkelleyrtp

Oh my... $45 for a motor controller of (presumably) the same caliber for Talon SRXs and Victors? Niiice. Is the limit switch wired directly to the controller and is there CAN support?

There are 2 limit switch inputs right on the controller that can support normally open or normally closed switches. Each one acts as an end stop, making it really easy to implement movement limits on any mechanism with no code or setup required.

we choose not to add CAN support at this time, because we were focused on providing a low cost and easy to use controller for everyone. We love the capabilities of CAN and the things that the Talon SRX can do, but if you don't need those extra features the cost savings can go a long way for many teams.

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

With rookies getting up to 5 free SRs and having the option for a $45 motor controller, that's going to put a lot of new teams at ease. Awesome.

There will also be some SPARK motor controllers in FIRST Choice.

[Munchskull]

After seeing what REV robotics has been doing with there products and mission. I have only one thing to say.

This is AWESOME!!

The price of motor controllers has been through the roof. The extra $25 savings will be a life saver. Plus that limit switch bonus will make life easier for teams that have trouble with programing. Just hoping that you will have the stock to meet the demands.

[Thad House]

Originally Posted by Munchskull

The price of motor controllers has been through the roof. The extra $25 savings will be a life saver. Plus that limit switch bonus will make life easier for teams that have trouble with programing. Just hoping that you will have the stock to meet the demands.

HA. I remember when Victors where $100, and that was for years. $60 for the Victor SPs were a much better deal then what teams payed for years.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Munchskull

.The price of motor controllers has been through the roof. The extra $25 savings will be a life saver.

What? We recently got a 40% discount off of speed controllers. The Victors and Talons are downright cheap compared to before.

[Munchskull]

Originally Posted by Cory

What? We recently got a 40% discount off of speed controllers. The Victors and Talons are downright cheap compared to before.

My apologies. To be honest I have only been looking at motor controller prices since 2014 so I had little frame of reference for what prices used to be.

[Michael Corsetto]

Originally Posted by Munchskull

My apologies. To be honest I have only been looking at motor controller prices since 2014 so I had little frame of reference for what prices used to be.

By the way, $60-$25 =! $45

Excited for more options, but will go with the more compact solution for the time being.

-Mike

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by Ty Tremblay

It's closer to a Talon SR / Victor SP. No CAN support, PWM only.

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

There are 2 limit switch inputs right on the controller that can support normally open or normally closed switches. Each one acts as an end stop, making it really easy to implement movement limits on any mechanism with no code or setup required.

we choose not to add CAN support at this time, because we were focused on providing a low cost and easy to use controller for everyone.

This is also great news for those of us who control motors with arduinos and other non-FRC control systems which support PWM but not CAN. I had feared that the PWM was going to go away in favor of an all-CAN infrastructure. The introduction of a new PWM controller seems to push that at least a few years down the road.

The low cost with built-in limit switch support is great - it should be sufficient for many applications!