People and animals can move quickly and accurately without having the rigid or precise (i.e., expensive) structural characteristics of typical numerically controlled motion systems (e.g., robots). In this, the first of a three-part series explaining how modern computer control can emulate these properties, we'll consider the ability to learn an open loop effort.

Users viewing PC-based soft motion control critically should look closer at its performance, flexibility, and cost benefits. By running motion control on standard operating systems without real-time extensions, you can achieve higher performance at a lower cost, thanks to hardware and software integration, easy customization, efficient information processing, and the ability to leverage open technologies.

Advances in the performance of the PC and in software-based motion control haveled to an open architecture that replaces proprietary electronics with simple interface systems, a PC, and off-the-shelf software. With many machines, this process yields a retrofitted machine tool that is better than new.

In the fields of motion control and industrial control systems, "interface" describes the device(s) that provide the necessary connection and communication between the controller and the I/O apparatus (the latter include all input and output devices and all sensory and actuating mechanisms).

Improvements in productivity and expandability are just some of the reasons PC-based motion control is becoming more common. There are several advantages to PC-based motion control including lower system cost, flexibility, ease of integration with other PC-based components, and continuous improvement of PC technology.