Robotics consultancy
Robotics consultancy
Control systems are essential and determine the behaviour of a robot. The control system executes a planned sequence of motions and forces in reaction to unforeseen situations, to ensure the robot reacts appropriately.
Robotae has expertise in control systems, with capabilities in sensor fusion. This combines sensory data from disparate sources, so that the resulting information has less uncertainty than if these sources were used individually. In addition, Robotae specialises in closed-loop control and real-time embedded software development, to provide a stable and accurate system.
Robotae has been working with the Brussels-based artist Antoine Espinasseau to create a series of self-balancing sculptures, working with the principle of using a reaction wheel to balance an inverted pendulum. These were exhibited to the public for the first time on 5-6 July 2025 as part of an exhibition entitled Que Rien Ne Bouge (Let Nothing Move) in the beautiful village of Faugères, South of France. The atmospheric location was the stunning Third Temple of Faugères, transformed in 1795 from a former guard room that resisted cannon fire in 1622. The carbon fibre frames ‘wear’ rice paper bearing screenprints of Rodin’s ‘Étude de robe de chambre pour Balzac’ to represent the material structure used for stability of conventional stone and bronze sculptures, in contrast to the active balancing.
Higher designed the Halo brushless gimbal for the film industry, enabling stabilised footage to be shot either handheld or with a drone.
Undertaking hardware modifications and developing a sensor fusion algorithm, Robotae produced the software to give the gimbal smooth motion.
Our initial analysis of the system led to a few hardware modifications to allow control to be feasible with such a high moment of inertia mismatch between the motors and the load.
We developed a sensor fusion algorithm to combine the gyro, accelerometer and magnetometer data to give a low latency, low drift attitude estimation.
The attitude estimator feeds into a nested closed-loop motor controller, which provides the stabilisation and smooth pan and tilt using a jerk-limited profile generator.
Brushless gimbal designed to provide steady shots from moving camera
Robotae Ltd
+44 (0)1223 422095
enquiry@robotae.com
Company number 8891576
Registered in England and Wales