Engineering guides for technical buyers, integrators and researchers
Motion Platform Technology
Before you trust a supplier with your load case, you need to know one thing: do they understand the machine, or do they assemble it from parts they cannot explain? Most supplier sites answer with adjectives. This section answers with the working principle, the arithmetic and the test you can witness — written by the team that designs the kinematics, the controller and the servo electric cylinders.
In short: motion platform technology covers the parallel mechanism, forward and inverse kinematics, actuator and structural sizing, the motion controller, and the methods used to verify the finished machine. Four guides cover the decisions buyers face most often; the rest of this page shows how we work behind them.
Technology hub · Maintained by the CSCmotion Motion Control Engineering Team · Updated October 4, 2026
Fig. 1 · Four layers, one team. When one building produces the kinematics, the controller, the cylinders and the platform, a behaviour change is an engineering task — not a ticket to a third party.
4
Layers built in-house
Kinematics, controller card and firmware, cylinders, platform.
4
Engineering guides
Principle, architecture, drive and sizing — no sales pitch.
FAT
Witnessed on your terms
Your load and trajectory; your team or SGS/BV welcome.
24 h
Engineer reply
A technical answer, weekends included.
Technical guides
Choose the Engineering Question You Need to Answer
The 4-Guide Decision Map
Each guide takes one decision and works it through to the end, with tables you can reuse and arithmetic you can check. Start with the question you are stuck on, not with the first card.
The 4-Guide Decision Map Find your question in the first column.
| If your question is… | Read | You leave with |
|---|---|---|
| "How does a six-axis platform actually move — and what can a supplier honestly claim about it?" | How a 6DOF Motion Platform Works | A way to read any 6DOF spec sheet without being misled by it |
| "Do I need six axes, or would three do the job?" | 3DOF vs 6DOF Motion Platform | A decision made from the motion task, not from the budget |
| "Electric or hydraulic for my load, duty and site?" | Electric vs Hydraulic Motion Platform | A five-question test and a life-cost view beyond purchase price |
| "How do I write a specification someone can actually quote?" | Payload, Stroke & Acceleration | A complete specification block, ready to send |
Typical reading order: principle → architecture → drive → sizing → specification
01 · Principle
How a 6DOF Motion Platform Works
How do six actuators produce one pose?
Follow a single commanded pose through the mechanism, inverse and forward kinematics, servo feedback and an independent measurement — with real limb-length numbers showing why six actuators never equal six axes.
InsideThe 7-Step Command-to-Motion Chain · The Limb Coupling Map · The 3-Layer Pose Evidence Stack · The 6-Line Spec-Sheet Decoder
02 · Architecture
3DOF vs 6DOF Motion Platform
Do you actually need all six axes?
What the three missing axes cost you, where a 3DOF platform genuinely falls short on acceleration onset, why the cost step is real but not proportional, and when 2DOF, 4DOF or 5DOF make sense.
InsideThe axis comparison · The four-question decision test · Common mistakes in the 3DOF vs 6DOF decision
03 · Drive technology
Electric vs Hydraulic Motion Platform
Which actuator suits your load, duty and site?
Why servo electric suits a six-leg platform, where hydraulic still wins at the extremes, what ownership costs after the purchase, and how to replace an ageing hydraulic machine.
InsideThe 12-Line Actuator Crosswalk · The 8-Line Life Cost Ledger · The 5-Question Actuator Test
04 · Sizing
Payload, Stroke & Acceleration
How do you size a platform before you ask for a quote?
What gross moving load includes, why centre-of-gravity height multiplies the moment, why stroke is not travel, what delivered projects show — and a builder that turns it all into a specification block.
InsideThe Pick-Two Sizing Triangle · The CoG Moment Multiplier · The Delivered-Range Ledger · The Specification Builder
Question not covered by the four guides? Send it as it stands; an engineer answers, and recurring questions become the next guide. Ask the question the guides missed →
Who you are actually buying from
What We Build Ourselves, and Why It Changes Your Project
The 4-Layer In-House Stack
Many motion platform suppliers start at assembly: buy actuators, buy a controller, bolt them to a frame. When something behaves unexpectedly, the answer sits in someone else’s manual. We build all four layers that decide how a platform moves, so the answer sits in our own code and our own test records.
The 4-Layer In-House Stack What we do ourselves at each layer, and what that changes for you.
| Layer | What we do ourselves | What it means for your project |
|---|---|---|
| L1 · Kinematics algorithms | Inverse kinematics every control cycle; forward kinematics seeded by a trained neural network and refined by numerical iteration, running in our production controllers | We can explain how the pose your controller reports is computed — and change it if your application needs it |
| L2 · Controller card and firmware | Command validation, limits, six-axis synchronization and the host interface | A behaviour change is a development task on our bench, not a support ticket to a third-party vendor |
| L3 · Servo electric cylinders | Assembled and run single-axis for stroke, thrust and backlash before they meet a platform | Motor and screw are chosen by the team that builds and tests the cylinder |
| L4 · Complete platform | Frame, Cardan joints with recorded preload, as-built geometry identification, loaded dynamic test, factory acceptance | One accountable team from load case to acceptance, with no hand-off to explain away |
“Owning all four layers is why we can answer ‘why did it do that?’ from our own code and our own test records, rather than from somebody else’s manual.”
— — CSCmotion Motion Control Engineering Team
Integrating with your own host software? Ask where our controller ends and your application begins, before you write the interface document. See the controller and API work package →
From load case to accepted platform
How a Motion Platform Gets Engineered, Built and Accepted
The 5-Gate Engineering Chain
Every platform passes the same five gates in the same order. Each gate needs something from you and hands something back — which is why a missing input stalls the chain early rather than surprising you at commissioning.
The 5-Gate Engineering Chain What happens at each gate, what we need, and what you get back.
| Gate | What happens | What you send | What you get back |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 · Load model | Gross moving load, centre of gravity and inertia become a mass model, including the range the CoG may move through | Itemised GML, CoG height, inertia or a CAD mass-properties export | Agreement on what is actually moving, before anything is sized |
| 02 · Workspace and kinematics | Candidate geometry is checked against limb length, joint angle, clearance and singular poses along your trajectory | One representative combined trajectory and its reference point | Whether your motion fits, and which limbs and joints it loads |
| 03 · Dynamics and sizing | Peak limb force and velocity size the motor and screw; the structure is checked for stiffness, buckling, modal behaviour and fatigue | Accelerations, duty cycle, and the one number you cannot move | A configuration, an achievable envelope and a quotation |
| 04 · Build and identify | Cylinders tested single-axis, joints preloaded and recorded against the serial number, as-built geometry identified and loaded into the controller | — | A controller that runs on the platform that was built, not on the drawing |
| 05 · Loaded test and FAT | Representative payload and combined trajectories, then the acceptance items agreed for your project | Your acceptance criteria — we propose the test items before you order | A factory acceptance test you, or a third party such as SGS or BV, can witness before shipment |
Why gate 04 has its own record: joint preload is where a Stewart platform’s repeatability is won or lost. A few hundredths of a millimetre of play at each of twelve joints stacks into visible jitter at the payload, and no software can tune it out after assembly. It has to be built in, not calibrated in.
Writing acceptance criteria for a tender? Send your load and trajectory, and we propose the FAT items that would prove them. Request proposed FAT test items for your load case →
Before you shortlist anyone
What to Ask Any Motion Platform Supplier, Including Us
The 5-Question Supplier Test
The fastest way to tell a builder from a reseller is not a factory video. It is five questions that only a team owning the design can answer on paper. Ask them of every supplier on your list — and of us.
The 5-Question Supplier Test A builder answers with a document; a reseller answers with adjectives.
| Ask this | A builder answers with | A reseller answers with | Where we answer it |
|---|---|---|---|
| "State the performance with the payload, reference point and instrument attached." | The conditions, in writing | A headline number | The 6-Line Spec-Sheet Decoder |
| "How is the pose your controller reports computed?" | The forward-kinematics method and how it is validated | "The controller handles it" | The forward problem, explained |
| "Will you run acceptance on my load and trajectory, with my witnesses?" | A list of FAT items before the order | A no-load demonstration video | Gate 05 of the engineering chain |
| "Who writes the controller firmware, and who changes it?" | "We do" | The name of another company | The 4-Layer In-House Stack |
| "Can you size from GML, CoG and a trajectory instead of mass alone?" | Questions about CoG height and duty cycle | A price per kilogram | Payload, Stroke & Acceleration |
Want to see how we score? Send the five questions with your load case, and we answer each one in writing. Put us through the five questions →
Engineers don't want adjectives; they want limits
What This Section Publishes, and What It Doesn't
The Publish-or-Withhold Ledger
Every number on these pages carries its condition, or it is not on these pages. That rule decides what we print and what we hold back — and we would rather explain a gap than fill it with a figure you cannot hold us to.
The Publish-or-Withhold Ledger What you will and won’t find here, and the reason for each.
| Item | On this site? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Working principles, worked arithmetic, decision frameworks | Published | You should be able to check our reasoning before you talk to us |
| Delivered payload and acceleration ranges, under 100 kg to 5,000 kg | Published as bands | Shows what has been built, without pretending a band is a model specification |
| Closed-loop latency in milliseconds | Not yet | Meaningless without payload, measurement points and instrument; we will publish it once a loaded measurement is on record |
| One acceleration figure per platform family | No | Without GML, axis, pose and duration it is a brochure number |
| Prices and lead times | At quotation | Both depend on the load case; a list figure would be a guess we would later revise |
| Customer names | No | Projects are described anonymously, by industry and load class |
Need a figure we don’t publish? Ask for it for your configuration, and it comes back with its conditions attached. Ask for a figure with its conditions →
Quality system and intellectual property
Certifications That Cover the Process, Not the Platform
The Certificate Coverage Crosswalk
A certificate logo tells you less than most buyers assume. Management-system certificates prove that documented processes are followed; they say nothing about how a specific platform performs. Here is what ours cover, and what they don’t.
The Certificate Coverage Crosswalk Read the third column before the fourth.
| Standard | What it covers | What it does not cover | CSCmotion status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ISO 9001 | Quality management: documented design, production and inspection processes | The performance of any individual platform | Certified |
| ISO 14001 | Environmental management at the manufacturing site | Product emissions or performance | Certified |
| ISO 45001 | Occupational health and safety of our own workforce | The functional safety of the platform you install | Certified |
| Patents and software copyrights | Ownership of specific mechanism, actuator and control methods | Proof that a given platform meets your specification | Multiple invention patents and registered software copyrights |
Certificates are held by our manufacturing entity, Nanjing AllController Technology Co., Ltd. Performance against your specification is proven a different way: by the factory acceptance test on your load and trajectory. Request the certificate, not the logo.
Preparing supplier qualification paperwork? We send current certificate PDFs with their numbers and validity dates. Request the current certificate PDFs →
Who this engineering serves
What We Build, Who It Is For, and What We Don't Do
We are a motion platform manufacturer. Saying plainly where that ends saves you a week of discovering it in a quotation.
We build motion platforms for
- Universities, research institutes and laboratories
- Industrial motion testing, inspection and precision positioning
- Simulator OEMs and integrators who need the motion system under their cockpit
- Custom load cases that no catalogue envelope fits
We don't build
- Complete simulators: cockpit, visual system and vehicle or flight model
- Simulation software, scenarios or training content
- Consumer racing seats or DIY motion kits
Here is the honest version: if you need a turnkey simulator, we work alongside your integrator rather than pretend to be one. And if your load case fits a standard catalogue envelope on a tight schedule, we will say so in the first technical reply.
Not sure whether your project sits inside our scope? Describe it in two lines, and an engineer tells you within 24 hours. Check whether your project fits →
Where to go next
Take the Technology Into a Product, Application or Project
This section explains how the machines work. These routes turn that understanding into something you can specify, budget or verify.
What can be configured?
Motion Platforms
6DOF, 3DOF and Stewart platforms and the motion control system, all built to the load case.
What job must it do?
Applications
Industrial testing, research, driving and flight simulation — what each job demands of a platform.
How will it be delivered?
Custom & OEM
Engineering scope, controller and API responsibilities, and integration support for non-standard projects.
Has it been done before?
Case Studies
Delivered projects, described by industry and load class, with the requirement and how it was met.
Who builds it?
Engineering Capability
The team, the build sequence and the test benches behind the guides on this page.
Ready to choose?
How to Choose a Motion Platform
Selection in the order engineers actually decide it, from motion task to acceptance.
Frequently asked
Motion Platform Technology — FAQ
Short answers. The detail lives in the guides, or in an engineering review of your own load case.
What does motion platform technology include?
The parallel mechanism and its joints, forward and inverse kinematics, actuator and structural sizing, the motion controller and its host interface, safety limits, and the methods used to verify the finished machine — calibration of the as-built geometry and a factory acceptance test on the real load.
Which guide should I read first?
The one that matches the question you are stuck on. As a sequence, most engineers go from the working principle to 3DOF vs 6DOF, then electric vs hydraulic, then payload, stroke and acceleration — which ends in a specification you can send.
Do you develop the kinematics and controller yourselves, or buy them in?
In-house. We write the kinematics algorithms, build the controller card and firmware, assemble the servo electric cylinders and build the complete platform. When behaviour needs to change, it is a development task for our team, not a ticket to a third-party vendor.
Why do your 6DOF platforms use Cardan joints?
For the load path. A Cardan joint blocks spin about the limb axis, giving a determinate load path and higher stiffness under alternating load — the condition that governs fatigue life in a motion base. The trade-off is a narrower articulation range, so every joint angle is checked along your trajectory. See How a 6DOF Motion Platform Works.
Why don't you publish a latency figure or one headline acceleration?
Because without the payload, measurement points, axis and duration attached, either number would mislead you. We give figures for your configuration, with their conditions stated, and we will publish a latency figure once a loaded measurement is on record.
Do your ISO certificates prove platform performance?
No, and no management-system certificate does. ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001 cover how we run design, production, environment and workplace safety. Performance against your specification is proven by a factory acceptance test on your load and trajectory, which you or a third party can witness.
Can these guides replace a project-specific engineering review?
No. They explain principles, inputs and trade-offs. Geometry, actuator selection, achievable performance and acceptance criteria still have to be worked out against your actual payload, motion and site.
No sales form required
Ask Our Engineers a Technical Question
If a guide doesn’t settle your question, send it directly. It goes to the engineering team, not a sales inbox, and asking one does not put you into a quotation process.
An engineer replies within 24 hours — weekends included. cscmotionglobal@gmail.com · +86 152 5530 5272 · Nanjing, China (UTC+8)