Most motor controllers make you write glue code. Ours live inside your ROS 2 graph — publishing odometry, voltage, and motor state as native topics with zero compute-side drivers. Drop them in. Start building.
The research-to-production motor controller that speaks ROS 2 natively.
For teams building ground rovers — from university labs to mid-sized production floors — the 24V/36V controller removes the integration tax entirely. It connects directly into your ROS 2 graph via Pico-ROS and Zenoh, publishing velocity commands, odometry, and real-time motor state as standard topics. No custom drivers. No middleware bridging. Your robot’s compute stays focused on what matters.
Industrial-grade FOC control for heavy-duty ground robots.
When your platform demands more — heavier payloads, longer duty cycles, high-torque brushless motors — the 48V controller delivers without compromise. With 20A continuous per motor and full compatibility with 12V/24V systems, it handles the full range of commercial mobile robot applications while maintaining the same native ROS 2 integration as the 24V variant.
Most FOC motor controllers on the market — including ODrive, Roboteq, and Tinymovr — communicate over CAN bus, UART, or USB and require you to run a separate ROS 2 driver node on your robot’s compute unit. That driver node translates ROS 2 topics into controller-specific commands and back, adding latency, maintenance overhead, and an extra failure point.
The Magni 6 controllers work differently. Using Pico-ROS running directly on the embedded microcontroller and Zenoh as the transport layer, the controller participates in your ROS 2 graph natively — publishing odometry, bus voltage, and motor state as standard ROS 2 topics without any host-side driver process. It’s the difference between a peripheral you’re driving and a node you’re composing with.
No – while Micro-ROS still needs a Micro-ROS bridge to connect between DDS-XRCE on the microcontroller and DDS on the host, our Pico-ROS system uses Pico-Zenoh and can participate in the ROS-graph as a first class participant. This means that you don’t need any bridges, drivers, or other code running on the host computer. It literally publishes directly to the ROS-graph.
No. Both the 24V and 48V Magni 6 controllers require zero compute-side drivers. The controller firmware runs Pico-ROS natively, which means it communicates directly over ROS 2 topics using the Zenoh protocol — no bridge node, no serial middleware, no custom hardware interface plugin needed.
This is the primary reason engineers working on ROS 2 ground rovers choose Magni 6 controllers over alternatives. Integration time goes from days of driver development to hours of configuration.
Pico-ROS is a Pico-Zenoh-derived framework that runs directly on the microcontroller embedded in the motor controller hardware — not on your robot’s main compute unit (Raspberry Pi, Jetson, or PC). It implements the ROS 2 node model in firmware, allowing the motor controller to publish and subscribe to ROS 2 topics as a first-class participant in your distributed robot system.
Combined with Zenoh as the underlying transport, Pico-ROS enables deterministic, low-latency communication between the motor controller and the rest of your ROS 2 stack — sensors, navigation, planning, and any other nodes — without adding software layers on the host side.
Both controllers are almost identical logically, they share the same native ROS 2 integration (Pico-ROS + Zenoh), the same dual-motor FOC architecture, and the same 105 × 86 mm form factor. The crucial difference is in the components used for the high power portions:
24V/36V Controller
48V Controller
Nominal Voltage
24V/36V
48V
Max Voltage
45V
60V
Max Current
10A per motor
20A per motor
Price
$399
$460
The 48V controller is the right choice for platforms that use higher voltages or need higher currents.
Yes – the motor controller works well at lower voltages.
With support for up to 45V and 10A per motor, the 24V Magni 6 controller is capable of driving ground robot platforms with payloads exceeding 100 kg, depending on your motor selection, wheel configuration, and surface conditions. The 48V controller, with 20A per motor, handles significantly heavier commercial deployments well beyond that threshold – hundreds of kilograms are possible.
Payload capacity is ultimately a system-level calculation — motor torque, gear ratio, wheel size, and surface friction all play a role. If you’re unsure whether your specific platform configuration is supported, our engineering team can review your setup. Use the “Schedule a Call” link to connect with us.
Yes. The Magni 6 motor controllers are designed for ROS 2 and are tested against current Ubiquity Robotics software images, which support ROS 2 Jazzy. Documentation and downloads are available at learn2.ubiquityrobotics.com.
With ROS 1 Noetic reaching end-of-life in May 2025, these controllers are built for the present and future of the ROS ecosystem — not a legacy architecture you’ll need to migrate away from.
Both controllers support 3-phase electrically commutated brushless motors — commonly referred to as BLDC (Brushless DC) or PMSM (Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors). These are the standard motor types used in Ubiquity’s ground rovers, AMRs, and mobile robot bases.
The 24V controller supports motors within a 45V / 10A per motor envelope. The 48V controller extends this to 20A per motor, opening compatibility with larger, higher-torque brushless motors suited for heavy-duty platforms.
If you’re sourcing motors for use with these controllers, Ubiquity Robotics can advise on compatible options based on your platform requirements.
Absolutely. While the Magni 6 controllers are designed by Ubiquity Robotics and are the native motor controller for the Magni 6 Mini robot, they are sold as standalone components and are fully usable in any custom or third-party ROS 2 ground rover.
Their native ROS 2 integration makes them particularly well-suited as drop-in motion control for custom differential drive or skid-steer platforms in research institutions, robotics startups, and production environments — anywhere a dual-motor FOC controller with native ROS 2 communication is needed.
Full documentation is available at learn2.ubiquityrobotics.com/jazzy, including setup guides, ROS 2 configuration references, and hardware integration notes.
For community support, the Ubiquity Robotics forum at forum.ubiquityrobotics.com is the primary resource — a community of researchers, engineers, and developers working with Ubiquity hardware and software.
For firmware updates and software downloads, visit the Downloads page at ubiquityrobotics.com/raspberry-pi-images-download.
For direct support, custom deployments, or fleet-scale applications, contact the team at contact@ubiquityrobotics.com or schedule a call via ubiquityrobotics.com/call-form.
