Why I Hate The R/C Industry

Working in hobby level robotics you have limited choices when it comes to parts and supplies specific to the field. Of those parts and supplies available, many are over priced just for being carried by a robotics retailer. As a result, a lot of parts used in robotics come from the Radio Controlled industry. Point-of-fact, many of the manufacturers for robotic parts are long-time companies in the R/C industry; such as Hitec and Futaba.

The R/C industry has been around a heck of a lot longer than the robotics hobby industry, thus offering a much wider range of products and more mature technologies. This is a very good thing for robotic hobbyists, as it not only provides a larger source of miscellaneous parts, but prices tend to be lower as a result of the maturity of the technology and higher level of competition within the field.

The problem I have with the R/C industry is that despite its maturity, standardization is critically lacking. To get an idea of what I mean, we'll use a servo (motor) as an example. Servos come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, ranging from micro-servos to extra large servos; from nylon to metal to karbonite gears; and come in a variety of torque and speed ratings. These are all necessary differences that make one servo better for a given application than another. After all, you wouldn't want to put a lawn mower engine in a Ferrari; different motors for different things. Where things become a problem is that there are at least three (3) different connectors used for standard servos.

Three. And those are the styles I have used, I am sure there are more. No big deal, except when you consider what is needed in the connector to make the servo operate. Every standard servo uses three lines: power, signal and ground. Every connector out there for servos has these three, and only these three lines; but use different connector heads and sometimes different pin orders based purely on the manufacturer. One manufacturer might use the "Hitec" connector with pin order of power, signal, ground; the next a "Futaba" connector with pin order of power, ground, signal. Take a guess what happens if you connect up the servo to your robot wrong... To top it off, documentation really is lacking on the electronic aspects of these pin outs, so often you just have to hope their wire color coding makes sense (did I mention that they all use different wire coloring schemes?).

Far worse than the servo arena, is the power connector arena. In connecting a battery to an electronic speed controller there are a plethora of connector styles in use; again, based purely on the manufacturers whim. Deans connectors (or T-Plugs), bullet connectors (ranging across a dozen different sizes and styles), mini-deans connectors (also called Deans Micro), Traxxas connectors, Airtonics/Hitec/Futaba/JR plugs, and Kyosho connectors (also called Tamiya, Standard and Molex) to name a few. Yes, there are more. It is actually so bad in the R/C aircraft segment that about 50% of ESCs purchased will not have a single connector attached, just bare wire.

Now (because I work in the Information Technology arena), imagine how far behind computers would be if manufacturers were not able to agree (thanks to RFCs and organizations like IEEE) on standard connection types. Think it is difficult to get everything connected on your computer now? What if that mouse you purchased only plugged into one out of every ten computers correctly, and there was no way of knowing if yours was one of them until after you purchased it.

Early on, some computer manufacturers actually tried to buck the system and have their own proprietary connections and parts. They are now out of business, or call themselves "Apple" (before I tick off Mac zealots: yes, Apple has adopted many standards). Yet, the R/C industry happily chugs along without a care in the world, or a standard in sight. It is actually the #2 reason I originally left the R/C hobby, the #1 being price (which is a direct result of lack of standards).

What does all this have to do with the price of tea in China? As a follower of chaos theory I can probably answer that question directly, but instead I will say just this: I am thankful the R/C industry exists for the reasons mentioned in the first two paragraphs above. I also hate the R/C industry with a passion because I consistently have projects on hold while I wait for replacement connectors to arrive. Currently, that number, like the number of wires in a servo connector, is three. Three robotic projects that are on hold, waiting for different connectors. And that, my friends, is what is known as "a pain in the ass".