Embeddedd System Design for Robots - Design Concept, System Architecture, and Implementation

Abstract

Embedded system design is essential for successful intelligent robotic implementations. Constructing a robot that can perform complicated tasks requires significant computing power and system integration effort. This study presents a novel distributed embedded platform using Ethernet as the communications backbone, with three layers: 1) control and sensing layer, 2) gateway layer, and 3) Internet layer. This proposal regards the cerebrum, cerebellum and nerve as abstract concepts. An RT protocol named HRTP is proposed in the control and sensing layer. The HRTP is a distributed RT protocol with a small footprint, which is especially suitable for the embedded and distributed network-based robot control application. HRTP is the first distributed RTE protocol stack specifically for an embedded Ethernet network. Notably, traditional RTE technologies have centralized structures that are large and superfluous for small robot systems. The proposed HRTP, in contrast to a distributed RT protocol, is for embedded RTE environments and robot network development.