Hello Everyone,

This update focuses on improvements to Doly’s drive management system.

A small number of users have reported drive mechanism issues over time. Although no related problems were observed during our internal testing phase, a limited percentage of customers experienced issues under real-world operating conditions. In response, we conducted a comprehensive investigation into several potential root causes, including track manufacturing tolerances, user operating scenarios, motor component reliability, and software behavior. Based on our findings, we implemented improvements across each of these areas.

To address potential mechanical factors, we remanufactured the tracks to reduce dimensional tolerances. We also upgraded the motor commutator to improve durability and extend motor service life. In addition, this software release includes updates to Doly’s drive control mechanism.

As part of this update, the acceleration and deceleration parameters have been adjusted. We also updated the doly_drive kernel module. These changes are intended to reduce stress on the brake mechanism. As a result, there may be a slight increase in drive distance deviation under certain conditions. However, during our testing, we did not observe any issues resulting from these changes. If you do encounter any unexpected behavior following this update, we encourage you to contact us.

The primary objective of this release is to reduce stress on the motors and improve long-term system reliability. For this reason, we also updated Explore mode on the remote control. With this change, speed increases more gradually and decreases more smoothly over time. This reduces sudden motor load changes and contributes to longer motor lifespan.

An additional note for SDK users:

We have also updated the DriveControl library. There are no API-level changes. However, when using the API, we strongly recommend applying acceleration settings. A speed ramp of 10–20 ms can help protect the motors, and enabling both speed control and force control can further extend component lifespan. Immediate direction changes or starting the motors at high power may cause arcing and sparks on the motor commutator, which can reduce motor lifespan. While we do not want to introduce unnecessary limitations in the background code, it is important to recognize that the service life of mechanical components depends significantly on how they are used.

This update also introduces a battery capacity measurement API. Documentation will be added to the GitHub repository soon. You may also review the examples using the link below.

https://github.com/robotdoly/DOLY-DIY/tree/main/SDK/examples/cpp/BatteryControl
https://github.com/robotdoly/DOLY-DIY/tree/main/SDK/examples/python/BatteryControl

Thank you for your continued support. We hope you enjoy the latest improvements to Doly.