The Synapticon Actuation Stack is an integrated motion-control (actuation) stack running on Synapticon's SOMANET servo drives. It comprises the servo-drive firmware implementing torque, velocity and position control loops, the Motion Master control server, the OBLAC Drives web engineering tool (commissioning, tuning, diagnostics), the synapticon_ros2_control (ros2_control) interface for ROS 2 integration, and the POSITRON functional-safety platform.
At the core is the Model-Predictive Deadbeat Field-Oriented Control (MPD Control) algorithm, reaching the target setpoint in roughly one switching cycle, which reduces heat generation and improves efficiency. Control runs in hard real time on SOMANET Core chips (XMOS xCORE architecture, 8-32 32-bit RISC cores). Position feedback relies on absolute encoders (BiSS-compatible) read directly by the CPU.
Communication with the host controller is over EtherCAT using CoE profiles (CiA 402 / DS402). Integrated safety functions (STO, SS1, SS2) act without interrupting power, eliminating separate safety components. Motion Master exposes client libraries (including C++, Python, TypeScript/JavaScript), and firmware updates are delivered OTA (Mender). Some tooling is open source (e.g. synapticon_ros2_control under MIT, a SOEM fork), while the core of the stack is commercial.
The stack is used in humanoid robots, robotic arms and cobots, mobile robots and industrial machinery, providing a ready-made drive and motion-control layer.
A Control Stack is the set of software components responsible for control logic, motion planning, command execution, and coordination of a robot's actuators. It receives high-level goals or waypoints (from planning or AI layers) and translates them into low-level actuator commands, closed-loop feedback control, and safety checks. Common implementations include MoveIt (arm manipulation), Nav2 (mobile navigation), and custom whole-body control stacks for humanoids.
Firmware is specialised software written directly into a device's non-volatile memory (flash, EEPROM, ROM), responsible for the hardware's core operational logic, communication protocols, and peripheral management. In robotics, firmware runs on microcontrollers, motor drivers, and sensor modules, providing the lowest software layer between the hardware and higher-level operating systems or middleware.
A Developer Tool is software designed to support the development workflow, including configuration, debugging, testing, monitoring, validation, and integration of robotic and embedded systems. Examples include IDE plugins, visual debuggers, log analysers, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test harnesses, and code-generation utilities specific to robotics platforms.
The real-time control role describes software responsible for closed control loops executed at a guaranteed, deterministic frequency — typically 1 to 10 kHz for current/torque loops in actuators. Unlike soft real-time, in a hard real-time regime missing a deadline is treated as a system error. Implemented on deterministic kernels (Linux PREEMPT_RT, QNX Neutrino RTOS) or dedicated microcontrollers. Critical for biped balance stability, force control, impedance control and functional safety.
Robot Control denotes the role of software responsible for motion control, command execution, coordination of actuating elements and the direct operational logic of the robot.
The functional safety role describes software responsible for ensuring that a robot operating alongside humans does not cause harm even in the event of hardware failure, software error or unforeseen environmental event. The safety component implements: deterministic execution of critical tasks (hard timing determinism), fault containment, continuous system integrity monitoring, transitions to safe failure states, and compliance with functional safety standards — IEC 61508 (SIL), ISO 13849 (Performance Level), ISO/IEC TR 5469 (AI in safety systems). It typically runs on an isolated hardware subsystem (e.g. an FSI island) independent of the main compute stack.
Device Integration denotes the role of software responsible for communication, configuration, initialization and handling of specific devices, sensors, controllers or hardware components within a robotic system.
Synapticon's integrated motion control family: SOMANET servo drives, ACTILINK actuators, and the Motion Master / OBLAC Drives software stack.
Synapticon servo drives and actuators (running this stack) are used in humanoid robots, cobots, mobile robots and industrial machinery.
Commercial product (vendor Synapticon, about 85 staff); selected components are open source on GitHub (motion-master-client, synapticon_ros2_control, SOEM).
The firmware runs on the servo-drive chip (bare metal); host tools (Motion Master, OBLAC Drives) run on an engineering PC.
XMOS xCORE is a processor architecture consisting of 8 to 32 programmable 32-bit RISC cores per chip, communicating over high-speed real-time buses. Hardware multithreading and deterministic (hard real-time) execution make it well suited to parallel, precise motion control. Synapticon uses this architecture in the SOMANET Core (System-on-Chip) of its servo drives.
License family: Permissive
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