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ROBOTICS · HARDWARE

What Is a Robot Controller?

A robot controller is the computer that runs a robot: it reads sensors, makes decisions and commands the motors. Industrial arms use the manufacturer's motion controller, while mobile robots and vision-guided systems increasingly use an edge AI computer as the robotics controller, running perception from cameras, planning and communication with drives over CAN or Ethernet.

01

The Short Answer

An edge AI robotics controller needs more than processing power. It needs camera inputs such as GMSL, industrial interfaces such as CAN, a wide DC input for battery or vehicle power, and a fanless, vibration-resistant build. NVIDIA Jetson platforms are widely used because they combine GPU AI performance with low power.

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    Camera inputs GMSL for long, low-latency camera links.
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    Industrial I/O CAN, isolated DIO and serial.
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    Power Wide DC input with ignition control.
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    Rugged build Fanless, shock and vibration tested.
02

Why It Matters

Our GMSL2 FAQ and CAN bus FAQ explain the key interfaces. The human-robot collaboration case study uses Vecow robotics controllers; see our rugged Jetson computers.