Design and Development of Master Controller for Robotic Applications

Abstract

Robotic applications necessitate robust, compact, and adaptable computing solutions to address the demands of real-time control, data processing, and seamless integration with diverse sensors and actuators. This research work endeavors to harness the capabilities of the Raspberry Pi Compute Module to craft an optimized computing platform tailored explicitly for robotic applications. The aim is to give a solution that combines the processing power needed for advanced robotic functionality with the ecosystem flexibility of the Raspberry Pi. The system architecture mandates efficient communication between actuators, sensors, and the master controller. To facilitate this communication, protocols such as CAN Bus, I2C, and EtherCAT are employed. These protocols serve as the conduits through which data is transmitted to and from the respective slave devices. By integrating EtherCAT master firmware and middleware libraries, the system ensures seamless communication with EtherCAT slave devices, thereby guaranteeing deterministic operation and precise synchronization throughout the network.