The REV Robotics Spark Motor Controller is an inexpensive brushed DC motor controller designed to give FIRST® Robotics Competition teams more bang for their buck.
The Spark features 60A continuous current with passive cooling, bi-directional limit switch inputs for smart mechanism control, an RGB LED status indicator, and a button-activated brake/coast mode.
For more information please visit http://www.revrobotics.com/product/spark/
Two months ago we releaseda 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
Price?
EDIT: Sorry, didn’t refresh!
$45
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.
http://www.revrobotics.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Spark_comparison-Chart-e1446132225162.jpg
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.
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.
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.
There will also be some SPARK motor controllers in FIRST Choice.
The most important metric, of course, is the number of LED colors per dollar:
REV SPARK: 0.156
Talon SR: 0.046
Victor 888: 0.043
Talon SRX: 0.050
Victor SP: 0.033
Jaguar: 0.038
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.
The Spark has more LED status light colors than the SP and SRX combined. Truly we are in a golden age.
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.
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.
By the way, $60-$25 =! $45
Excited for more options, but will go with the more compact solution for the time being.
-Mike
+1 to this. Robot real estate is premium.
Though having ran a team in college whose robot budget was generally sub $1000, have a quality cheap option is awesome for the community as a whole.
Reading these comments really shows how far we have come. There used to be a time when the only choice available was Tekin Speed Controllers and they liked to catch on fire…
Since it’s a 15(.625) kHz controller, I’d be very surprised if it’s not as linear as the other 15 kHz controllers.