ODrive Robotics

ODrive Robotics product lines

Who ODrive Robotics is

ODrive Robotics makes small, high-current servo drives for brushless motors. Its documentation still names the original open-source GitHub project (madcowswe/ODrive), and the range is now a product line of single-axis drives that run field-oriented control (FOC) on BLDC and PMSM motors, with torque, velocity, position and trajectory modes. Engineers use them to turn low-cost hobby or industrial brushless motors into servo axes for robot joints, gimbals, wheels and test rigs.

ODrive also sells motors, encoders, cables and kits that it has validated with its drives. Through its B2B programme it offers bulk pricing, OEM firmware features and board-mount or licensing options.

History and ownership

ODrive’s website does not publish a founding date, headquarters address, legal entity type or ownership. Its terms of sale refer to California sales tax, and it operates separate US, EU and worldwide online shops. We have therefore listed only the contact routes the company itself publishes.

Product portfolio

All current ODrive drives are board-level, single-axis units. That puts them in the PCB-mount servo drive class; see how to select a PCB-mount servo drive.

• The ODrive Pro is the high-power model. It runs from 12–56 V (58 V maximum) and delivers 70 A continuous and 100 A peak with heatsink and fan, which ODrive rates at 3 kW continuous and 5 kW peak with appropriate cooling. It has an onboard MA702 magnetic encoder and accepts quadrature, Hall, SPI, SSI and RS485 encoders (BiSS-C is experimental). Control is over CAN 2.0B, USB, isolated UART, step/direction, PWM or analogue, on a 51 × 64 mm board.
• The ODrive S1 covers 12–48 V (50.5 V maximum) at 40 A continuous with the recommended heat spreader. It has the same onboard encoder, dual absolute encoder support, an 8 kHz control loop and a single locking I/O connector, on a 66 × 50 mm board.
• The ODrive Micro is 32 × 32 × 7.5 mm and handles 10–30 V, 3.5 A continuous and 7 A peak (100 W / 180 W), with daisy-chained CAN for small joints and grippers.
• The ODrive v3.6 is the original open-hardware board, in 24 V and 56 V versions with up to 120 A peak per motor. It is marked Not Recommended for New Designs, and ODrive points users to the S1.

Technologies

FOC on a small board. ODrive drives commutate PMSM and BLDC motors with field-oriented control. They support torque, velocity, position and trajectory control, so one board can run a robot joint in impedance-style torque control or a positioning axis.

Encoder flexibility. The onboard magnetic encoder reads a magnet on the back of the motor shaft. Off-board inputs cover incremental, Hall and absolute serial encoders. For joints behind a gearbox, dual-encoder support lets the drive read both motor and output position.

CAN control. CAN 2.0B at 1 Mbps is the main machine interface. CAN FD is listed as experimental on the Pro and S1. If you need EtherCAT or functional safety such as Safe Torque Off, look at industrial drives; see how to select a servo drive.

Cooling and ratings. ODrive states its current and power ratings with specific cooling (a heatsink and fan on the Pro, a heat spreader on the S1). Treat them as best-case figures and derate for enclosed or hot installations.

Matching an ODrive to a motor

Start from the motor’s continuous phase current and the bus voltage. As a rough electrical ceiling, multiply them: the S1 at 40 A on a 48 V bus is about 1.9 kW, and the Micro at 3.5 A on 24 V is about 84 W. Compare that with the mechanical power the axis needs, plus a margin for losses. Check the motor’s maximum electrical frequency too. ODrive recommends no more than 700 Hz on the S1, which limits top speed on high-pole-count motors. A 21-pole-pair gimbal motor at 700 Hz, for example, is limited to 2,000 rpm.

Industries served

ODrive’s B2B page cites a gimbal system for aerial data collection, a precision mechanical weeding robot and a customer using ODrive for smooth, quiet brushless servo motion. Typical uses for drives of this class are robot joints, mobile robots, gimbals and test rigs. See robotics and cobots and agriculture.

Global and UK presence

ODrive sells online from US, EU and worldwide shops and does not list distributors or a UK office. UK buyers usually order from the EU shop. For production volumes, ODrive invites contact through its B2B form and sales email.

What to send when specifying a servo drive

Send the motor type and its phase resistance and inductance, bus voltage, continuous and peak current, feedback type, control interface and loop rate. Add the cooling available, any functional safety needs and the expected volumes.

Specify Motion is independent of ODrive Robotics and is not a distributor for the company. Our engineers can help source ODrive products or propose equivalents from our supply network on published figures; see find a replacement or the servo drives hub.

ODrive Robotics servo drives

PCB-mount drive

ODrive Pro

Single-axis board-level FOC servo drive for BLDC/PMSM motors: 12–56 V, 70 A continuous and 100 A peak with heatsink and fan, up to 3 kW continuous / 5 kW peak, on a 51 × 64 mm board.

PCB-mount drive

ODrive S1

Single-axis BLDC/PMSM servo drive for 12–48 V systems, 40 A continuous with the recommended heat spreader, onboard magnetic encoder, CAN 2.0B and isolated I/O, on a 66 × 50 mm board.

PCB-mount drive

ODrive Micro

32 × 32 mm servo drive for small BLDC motors: 10–30 V, 3.5 A continuous and 7 A peak (100 W / 180 W), onboard magnetic encoder and daisy-chained CAN.

PCB-mount drive · legacy

ODrive v3.6

Original open-hardware ODrive board in 24 V and 56 V versions with up to 120 A peak per motor, USB, UART and CAN; now Not Recommended for New Designs.