QMotor 3.0 and the QMotor robotic toolkit: a PC-based control platform

Abstract

Q Motor 3.0 is a QNX-based object-oriented single-processor software environment that allows the implementation of real-time control algorithms as C++ programs on standard Intel-processor-based PCs. The QMotor 3.0 graphical user interface (GUI) integrates functionality for testing and tuning of these control programs. In addition, it provides advanced data logging, plotting, and data exporting capabilities. The control program, as well as the development tools and the GUI, can all execute simultaneously on the PC due to the deterministic response of the operating system (OS). This architecture replaces the traditional multiprocessor host/DSP board architecture often used in control applications. Advantages of a single-processor system include reduced cost and lower complexity, as well as increased flexibility and upgradability. A client/server architecture decouples the control program from the hardware so that QMotor 3.0 can easily be extended to work with new hardware. QMotor 3.0 has been used successfully in many of the control experiments performed by the Clemson Control and Robotics group, including motor and robot control, active magnetic bearing experiments, and vibration control for flexible structures.