Needing rotary encoder for my robot arm

Hi Sparkfun!

I’m a product developer. For my next project I need rotary encoders that are 12-bit, instantaneous, and continuous.

https://hackaday.io/project/945-afforda … -robot-arm When my robot turns on I need to know the position immediately so that I can move it safely. I also want to know if it bumped into anything, and I want to disable stepper motors and let a human drag the arm to program it. Based on my calculations 12 bits is twice the minimum resolution I need.

I tried your site first, but came up short. Then https://www.reddit.com/r/robotics/comme … ry_sensor/ told me about http://ca.mouser.com/new/ams/ams-as5145-sensor/

I’m not skilled at designing PCBs. I’m wondering if you would please consider adding this as a new product. Specifically, a circular breakout with mounting holes like http://www.bg-cnc.com/wordpress/?p=794 and a magnet to match. If it could come with a diagram of the mounting tolerances and a sample sketch then I can wire that to my controller and be on my way.

FWIW, I need at least 5 in my next machine. Also, a lot of people I talked to seemed to think hall effect instantaneous was simply not do-able. I hope to dispel this myth.

Is this something with which you could help me? Is there a better way?

Thank you!

You can buy breakout boards and magnets for the AS5045 12 bit Hall effect rotary encoder here: http://www.madscientisthut.com/Shopping … oder&xm=on

No data from any device can be read or transferred “instantaneously”.

and someone just pointed me to http://www.avagotech.com/products/motio … T-6010-A06

Those madscientisthut pieces look like exactly what I need. Thank you! I will try to report back when I have tried them out.