A Virtual-Time Operating-System Shell For A Hypercube In Robotics Applications

Abstract

Hypercube multiprocessors possess many attributes advantageous for autonomous, intelligent robots which operate in time-critical fashion in hostile environments. However, their message-passing architecture presents certain dif-ficulties in rapid changes of plans in response to unpredictable events in the environment. The status of a "virtual-time" operating-system shell, providing functions which facilitate such responses, is described.