Electronics and Wiring

This chapter describes the electrical architecture of Asimov 1, including how power and CAN are distributed, how the actuator branches are organized, and which joints require special wire routing considerations.

Figure 1. System-level wiring architecture.

The robot wiring is organized into six branches. Each limb or body section forms one branch, and the actuators within that branch are connected as a daisy chain from one joint to the next.

Examples:

Each branch begins at a joint near the main body and continues outward through the rest of the limb or module.

Each actuator has two ports using an XT30 (2+2) connector.

For wiring purposes, these may be treated as input and output ports, but electrically they are equivalent and internally shorted together. There is no fixed electrical direction between the two ports, so either one may be used depending on routing convenience.

Each 4-pin port carries:

Because both ports are electrically equivalent, the chosen port at each actuator is determined by physical cable routing rather than by a required port direction.

Certain actuators use a hollow shaft to allow wires to pass through the joint. This enables compact internal routing, but it requires the supplied single-ended wires to pass through before their documented connection is completed.

For these joints, route the supplied wire through the required path before joining it to its supplied mate. Normal assembly does not require builders to crimp actuator connectors.

Hollow-shaft joints:

Post-routing connection locations:

These routing constraints must be considered when separating normal premade wires from the documented post-routing connection exceptions. The connection method for each location is defined by its assembly step.

Each actuator branch starts at a joint close to the robot body and continues outward through the corresponding limb or module.

At each branch-entry actuator:

The branch-entry actuators are:

These joints serve as the entry points for daisy-chained actuator wiring in each branch.

The diagram and branch list describe topology. They do not define test points, cable IDs, wire lengths, fuse locations, board revisions, or acceptance criteria.