Overview – Pololu Maestro User Manual
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1. Overview
The Maestros are Pololu’s second-generation family of
USB servo controllers. The Maestro family consists of
four controllers, each available fully assembled or as a
partial kit:
•
•
•
•
With three control methods — USB for direct connection to a PC computer, TTL serial for use with embedded
systems, and internal scripting for self-contained, host controller-free applications — and channels that can be
configured as servo outputs for use with
or
electronic speed controls (ESCs), digital outputs, or analog/digital inputs, the Maestro is a highly versatile servo
controller and general I/O board in a highly compact package. The extremely precise, high-resolution servo pulses
have a jitter of less than 200 ns, making the Maestro well suited for high-performance animatronics, and built-in speed
and acceleration control make it easy to achieve smooth, seamless movements without requiring the control source to
constantly compute and stream intermediate position updates to the Maestro. The Maestro features configurable pulse
rates (up to 333 Hz for Mini Maestros) and can generate a wide range of pulses to allow maximum responsiveness
and range from modern servos. Units can be daisy-chained with additional Pololu servo and motor controllers on a
single serial line.
A free configuration and control program is available for Windows and Linux (see
), making it simple to
configure and test the board over USB, create sequences of servo movements for animatronics or walking robots, and
write, step through, and run scripts stored in the servo controller. The Maestro’s internal script memory allows storage
of servo positions that can be automatically played back without any computer or external microcontroller connected
(see
).
The Maestros’ channels can also be used as general-purpose digital outputs and analog or digital inputs, providing
an easy way to read sensors and control peripherals directly from a PC over USB. These inputs can be used with the
scripting system to enable creation of self-contained animatronic displays that respond to external stimuli.
Pololu Maestro Servo Controller User's Guide
© 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation
1. Overview
Page 3 of 73