Choosing an architecture is like assembling it: microservices, monolith or SOA, which one makes your mechanical project more flexible?

Imagine you're in your workshop assembling a new drivetrain. The parts are spread out on the table, screws, gears, motors - if they are all welded into a lump of iron, will the whole thing have to be dismantled and started again if you want to change the gears in the future? On the other hand, if each screw is individually packaged as a module, and dozens of interfaces have to be reconnected every time you adjust it, I am afraid that just coordinating them will give you a headache all day long.

This is probably the dilemma that many people encounter when choosing software architecture. Microservices, monomer, SOA - these terms sound very technical, but in fact they are not much different from the logic of mechanical assembly. Today we will casually talk about these options and see how they affect your project, whether it is controlling the accuracy of the servo motor or making the servo respond a little faster.

Let’s talk about that “big iron lump” first: monolithic architecture

Some people like to package all functions into a whole. Just like some old-fashioned mechanical controllers in the early years, the circuit board, driver, and logic are all on one board. What are the benefits? Simple. It's straightforward to develop, just throw a package in when deploying, and it's quite stable in the initial run.

But after a while you may find that when you only want to upgrade one of the sensor modules, you have to retest the entire system. One day when the load is heavy and a certain function gets stuck, the entire system may slow down. It's like your five-year-old engraving machine and you want to replace it with a new cutter head, only to find that the motor driver also needs to be replaced because they didn't even consider letting you upgrade it separately.

Someone asked: "Is the monolithic architecture useless?" Not really. If your project is small in scale and has simple logic, or you urgently need to quickly launch a prototype, then this "one-piece" approach will save you worry. Its problems often appear only after growing up.

Modular Workshop: SOA (Service Oriented Architecture)

So someone proposed a more structured idea: SOA. You can think of it as a workshop with a clear division of labor. The lathe department is only responsible for cutting, the grinding department is only responsible for polishing, and the assembly line is responsible for assembly. Each department provides standard "services" and communicates between them through predefined interfaces.

This approach has been used in many companies for many years. It solves part of the coupling problem and allows different teams to work relatively independently. However, communication between these "departments" often relies on relatively heavy middleware and protocols, and adjustment still requires a lot of coordination costs. Sometimes, you may feel that the process is a bit rigid, like filling out a form and waiting for approval for every process in the workshop. It takes longer to go through the process for small changes than the actual work.

Lego-style assembly: microservices

Then microservices became popular. This idea is more like playing Lego: each function is disassembled into independent small building blocks (services), which can run and jump by themselves, and chat through lightweight methods (such as HTTP API). Each service can be developed separately, deployed separately, and expanded separately.

For example, you are working on a control system for a multi-axis robotic arm. You could have one microservice dedicated to trajectory calculation, another to motor drive feedback, and yet another to handle user interface instructions. When something is needed, you only need to update that computing service without disturbing other parts. When the driving pressure of a certain motor is high, you can add resources to this service separately.

Sounds wonderful, right? But it's not magic either. Microservices bring new challenges: How to coordinate so many small services? Will network communication become a new bottleneck? How to track down a problem? It's like you're managing a bunch of little robots that can act autonomously. You need better monitoring tools and deployment strategies to make sure they don't crash into each other or get lost.

So, how to choose?

In fact, no architecture is "best". Just like when you choose a driver for a servo motor, you have to look at the load, accuracy, and response speed—the software architecture also has to match your specific scenario.

A few tips may help you organize your thoughts:

• If you have just started a pilot project with a small team and large demand variables, a monolith may allow you to run faster.
• If you are building a medium-to-large platform that needs to interface with multiple existing systems, a standardized service boundary like SOA may be more suitable.
• If your system requires frequent iterations, parts of it scale independently, or you want your team to develop and release features autonomously, then microservices are worth serious consideration.

Of course, in reality many projects will mix these ideas. Maybe the core uses microservices to ensure flexibility, and some auxiliary modules use monoliths for simplicity. The important thing is, don’t just jump on a concept just because it’s popular. likekpowerWhen dealing with motion control projects for some customers, we often take the time to understand the actual work scenarios and growth expectations before discussing the technology combination - after all, the right tools are the key to making the machine run smoothly.

Let me just say that the architecture is not something you can choose once and for all. It's a bit like the equipment layout in your workshop, which adjusts as production needs change. Keeping an open mind and being willing to refactor or evolve when necessary is often more practical than pursuing a "perfect design" from the start. After all, what can make the servo motor rotate stably and the manipulator perform accurate actions is not the name of a certain architecture, but whether it truly fits the problem you are solving.

Established in 2005,kpowerhas been dedicated to a professional compact motion unit manufacturer, headquartered in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, China. Leveraging innovations in modular drive technology,kpowerintegrates high-performance motors, precision reducers, and multi-protocol control systems to provide efficient and customized smart drive system solutions. Kpower has delivered professional drive system solutions to over 500 enterprise clients globally with products covering various fields such as Smart Home Systems, Automatic Electronics, Robotics, Precision Agriculture, Drones, and Industrial Automation.