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[DPRG] Processing unit for mobile robot
Subject: [DPRG] Processing unit for mobile robot
From: Randy M. Dumse
rmd at newmicros.com
Date: Sun Apr 20 00:19:35 CDT 2008
Chris Jang
> The winner of last year's SRS Robomagellan used a Pentium-M
> mini-ITX mainboard on a RC truck chassis.
> http://jandmworks.com/intrepid.html
>From that web site:
There are several microprocessors onboard, including a BDMICRO
MAVRIC-IIB Atmel ATMega128 controller, used to manage the
sensors, compass, IMU and drive system. A Pentium-M mini-ITX
board running MATLAB is the mission controller and image
processor. The main processor communicates to the embedded
controllers via serial link.
So it fails the test I was asking about, a robot with a PC but
no micros running it.
> I think though that with highly miniaturized ultraportable
> PCs becoming mass market items (e.g.
> Asus Eee PC), the design tradeoffs are shifting. If you can
> buy a 1 GHz class palmtop that uses flash memory for under
> $500, then it becomes cheap enough to use for a robot.
I hear your suggestion, but I also think it is still a false
promise. The option is not a micro or a PC, but a micro. And
then maybe a PC for higher functions.
So I have to wonder, if a robot with only a micro can be a
functioning robot, but a robot with only a PC cannot be a
functioning robot, which one really is the higher brain
function? And which is really the coprocessor?
But there's this sense to so many hobbiest you start with a PC.
My conclusion is if you start with a PC, your robot project is
already ended, and it may take you half a dozen years before you
figure that out.
Randy
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