[Joel_Mckay]

"Any reason why you recommend this?"

Pre-built 3D simulation models for easier software development, official ROS support from the company, and better physical safety with advanced force-sensing motion systems.

"optical encoders" have their own set of issues... usually require quadrature encoder tracking FPGA or dedicated ASIC features in the mcu. i.e. you now have 2 problems to solve, and higher costs.

Best of luck, =3

[Xmd5a]

Related optical encoder project I found a while back that used to rely on an FPGA but doesn't anymore:

https://github.com/JamesNewton/HybridDiskEncoder