Enhanced Smoothness of Dynamixel XL320 Servo Motors: A Comparative Study of Sinusoidal Motion Profiles and PID Control

This paper presents a comparative study of two control methods aimed at enhancing the motion smoothness of Dynamixel XL320 servo motors, which are widely used in small-scale robotics applications. We evaluate the performance of traditional Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) control against a novel approach using sinusoidal motion profiles. The study employs a custom experimental setup, utilizing an U2D2 and an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) for real-time motion analysis. Performance metrics include jerk analysis, spectral analysis of position data, and IMU-based g-force measurements. Our experiments encompass various load conditions and movement patterns to assess the robustness of each control method. Results indicate that the sinusoidal motion profile approach achieves 36% improvement compared to optimized PID control. These findings suggest that sinusoidal motion profiles offer significant advantages in applications requiring smooth and precise movements, such as robotic arms and delicate manipulation tasks. This research contributes to the ongoing efforts to improve motion control in compact servo systems, with potential implications for enhancing the overall performance and efficiency of small-scale robotic applications.