3D joystick now with CANopen

The SpaceMouse module from MEGATRON enables complex 3D movements with just one hand. The 3D joystick has been available with USB and serial interfaces for several years. MEGATRON is now launching a version with CANopen interface.

The 3D joystick SpaceMouse module is specifically developed for human-machine interaction in industrial environments and enables intuitive control of complex motion sequences. The patented optoelectronic sensor measures user input in all three spatial directions – both for linear movements of the knob and for its rotation around all three spatial axes. As a result, a 3D movement of the joystick is directly transferred to the object being moved. This makes the SpaceMouse module ideal for controlling cameras and microscopes, X/Y/Z precision and special-purpose machines, and robotics applications. The joystick is ideal for any application where 3D movement needs to be controlled manually.

The SpaceMouse module is now available with CANopen interface. CANopen is widely used in many areas of automation, plant engineering and mobile machinery. This protocol provides different modes for intelligent signal transmission. In event-driven mode, the joystick’s input values are only transmitted over the bus when an internal event occurs – for example, when the knob position changes. In asynchronous mode, data is transmitted after an internal timer has expired. In synchronous mode, measurements are regularly transmitted to other bus nodes as part of an externally sent SYNC command. In addition, the customer can choose between 8-bit and 16-bit resolutions for the transmission of data packets. DIP switches are on the underside of the joystick for easy selection of these and other operating parameters such as baud rate and node ID. Parameters can also be configured via bus.