Real-Time Control Systems for Robots

The advent o f l o w c o s t m i c r o c o m p u t e r h a r d w a r e has p r o v i d e d t h e c a p a b i l i t y f o r s o p h i s t i c a t e d c o n t r o l o f robot machinery, a l l o w i n g such features as s t r a i g h t l i n e t r a j e c t o r y motions, sensory i n t e r a c t i o n , w o r k s t a t i o n i n t e g r a t i o n , e x t e r n a l database access and o f f-l i n e programming. The f o u n d a t i o n o f t h e s e c a p a b i l i t i e s l i e s. i n t h e a r c h i t e c t u r e o f t h e computer h a r d w a r e and s o f t w a r e system. T h i s r e a l-t i m e c o n t r o l a r c h i t e c t u r e must p r o v i d e t h e framework f o r a l o g i c a l p a r t i t i o n i n g and s t r u c t u r i n g o f t h e c o n t r o l t a s k s i n t o f u n c t i o n a l a y separate modules that a r e bounded by well-defined data i n t e r f a c e s. I t i s through t h i s a r c h i t e c t u r e d e f i n …