A Reconfigurable and Modular Open Architecture Controller: the New Frontiers

摘要

A novel and flexible open architecture controller platform is presented for PUMA Robot system. The original structure of the PUMA robot has been retained. All computational units are removed from the existing PUMA controller, and the PC assumes the role of computing the control strategy. By assembling the controller from off-the-shell hardware and software components, the benefits of reduced cost and improved robustness have been realized. An Intel Pentium IV industrial computer is used as the central controller. The control software has been implemented using VC++ programming language. The trajectory tracking results show the validity of the new PC based controller.