Device Distributed Approach to Expandable Robot System Using Intelligent Device with Super-Microprocessor

Conventional robot system design is either classified as a built-in centralized approach in which one processor on a robot controls all devices or as a module distributed approach in which several processors in a built-in network communicate and each processor controls several devices. The built-in centralized approach is limited by the number of devices on the robot. The module distributed approach has no such limitation, but requires changes in software or built-in network topology when devices are added. This paper describes a device distributed approach to realize a simple, expandable robot system that enables a number of devices to be attached or added to a built-in robot without significant changes to software and hardware. The robot system based on a device distributed approach consists of a serial bus connected to intelligent devices. Each device such as sensors and actuators has a processor for communication and calculation, so devices are added by connecting them to the serial network. We developed intelligent servos and intelligent sensors as prototypes of intelligent devices using super microprocessors with a 3 ́ 3 mm footprint, and build small humanoid robots to confirm the expandability of a robot, in which intelligent servos realize a wiring saving robot, a many DOF robot, and easy device addition.