Speed Control

Speed control is the process of varying the speed of a motor in response to a command input (such as a requested speed). In robotics, this is most commonly performed by a Motor Controller. There are two variants of speed control: open loop and closed loop. In open loop, the command input is directly converted into a command for the motor (usually applied voltage). In closed loop, sensor feedback (usually an encoder or potentiometer) is used to measure the current motor speed in real time and accordingly modify the motor voltage such that the motor speed more closely follows the commanded speed.