Using Controller Area Network Communication to Simplify Robotics

Imagine 100 little wires all mixed up like spaghetti. You need to find the one wire that will connect the motor to the battery, but all the wires look the same. Controller Area Network (CAN) technology can simplify the wiring and communication by allowing you to use one wire between each of your components, potentially reducing those 100 wires to something more like 7. By using CAN technology new components can be swapped in for old or broken ones with ease, making way for quick and simple communication between parts. Although CAN technology is fairly new in robotics application it has been used in automobiles for many years. In our project we were faced with the obstacle of setting up communication between components in order to get our robot to function. Without reliable communication between parts a robot could fail, in certain robotic applications people’s lives could be at stake. In our project so far we have bought some off the shelf components such as Jaguar motor controllers, a 2CAN, a Canipede, as well as some materials for a frame and put together a robot. This robot will use CAN technology to communicate between components as well as allow the user to manipulate these components. So far we have successfully achieved communication between all parts but still need to do adjustments to optimise performance. We believe that CAN technology is a very simple, effective, and practical communication protocol for any robotic application. CAN technology will become a standard in robotics.