What datasheets leave out
The method behind every page here: why a number without a measurement boundary is not a specification — starting with one of ours we withdrew.
Compare
Comparison pages are usually written to win. These are written to be checkable: every figure attributed to another manufacturer names its source and retrieval date, and our own figures name theirs.
The comparisons ›Every price, one table ›The rules we wrote them under ›
The comparisons
The first page is the one worth reading before the others — it sets out what a comparable specification actually requires, and applies it to us first.
The method behind every page here: why a number without a measurement boundary is not a specification — starting with one of ours we withdrew.
Head to head
The closest like-for-like in this category — both real 6-DOF parallel kinematics — and the places the two genuinely diverge.
Shared intent and one shared spec, different kinematics. Three axes on four posts against six axes on six legs.
Both ship as kits you build yourself. The difference is what is inside the actuator.
A seat that tilts on two axes inside the cockpit you own, against a platform that moves the whole cockpit on six.
Our own row
Every page in this section puts the PDK in the right-hand column. Here it is on its own, with the basis of each figure written out — so the row can be audited without reading six comparisons first.
| ARK PDK | Basis | |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | 6-DOF Stewart–Gough, six direct-drive legs | Patent CA 3217174 C |
| Actuation | Direct-drive BLDC outrunners, field-oriented control | Design of record |
| Static load | Carried pneumatically, 3 × 50 mm × 140 mm cylinders at 6.0 bar max | Published specification |
| Envelope | Surge 158.23 mm · sway 143.85 mm · heave 117.35 mm · pitch 16.07° · roll 17.36° · yaw 19.60°, single-axis | T1 firmware boot banner, envelope of record |
| Payload | Up to 250 kg | Published specification |
| Feedback | 6 × 21-bit magnetic encoders, 0.000171661° per count | verified by arithmetic |
| Control rate | 8 kHz drive loop per motor · 3.3 kHz inverse kinematics · 1 kHz position commands — all internal | verified |
| Transport delay | Under 1 ms — game telemetry in, motion out; boundary on /technology/latency/ | boundary stated |
| Power | Universal PSU, 100–290 V single-phase domestic mains: 3,000 W on 200–290 V, 1,400 W on 100–130 V · 30 kW burst from the capacitor bank | verified |
| Footprint | 1.00 × 1.00 m platform · 1.57 m diameter with the extension feet · 0.50 m retracted | verified |
| Price | $8,499.99 PDK + ARK Ecosystem · $6,299.99 PDK Racer · $5,299.99 PDK + Extension Feet & Table · $4,899.99 PDK | published, not quoted |
| Network | Direct, plus a community. No dealer network. | Stated |
Against a bare motion platform — Qubic QS-S25 Basic Set, MOZA HMA150 — the PDK. Against a platform with its own rig — DOF Reality P6 — the PDK Racer. The PDK + ARK Ecosystem adds our wheelbase, wheel, load-cell pedals and button box, matched and tuned as one system. No ARK build includes a seat, PC or screen. We ship as we build, prioritising grid-position holders and the PDK + ARK Ecosystem.
Made to order · Batch One: ready to ship an estimated 3–6 months from order confirmation
The rules we wrote them under
Every figure attributed to another manufacturer is read from their published material and named to its source. Manufacturers revise specifications and a figure here can go stale — if you find one that has, tell us and it gets corrected. We do not characterise anyone's product as worse; we state what each machine is and let the architecture speak. Where a rival publishes something we do not, that is on our row too.
Keep reading
Our own architecture, ten pages, one subject each.
The figure we withdrew, and why.
Found an error in a competitor figure? Tell us.