XROB-s and icon-x: Flexible hardware, visual programming and software component reuse

Abstract

The following article describes an optimized system solution for RoboCup-applications, which reaches from RoboCup-Junior to humanoid robots. It describes the versatile multiprocessor-hardware xROB-CUx. The control unit contains the communication processor netX®, based on an arm9-Core. A variety of communication- and hardware-interfaces as well as the simple scaling enables the use as a communication junction, e.g. for sub-layered DSP or FPGA-axis-controllers in humanoid robots or as a control unit for construction systems (e.g. fischertechnik®, Lego®, qfix®). The paper also contains a description of the Windows® based software-system xROB-L , which contains the open visual programming-system iCon-L® as an essential part. The creation of user-programs, PC-simulation, data-archiving and the download to different target-systems is illustrated as well. While the up to now available developer-environment iCon-MFB (Make Function Blocks) only supported the design-process of advanced function blocks in Visual C/C++, it is now possible to integrate ANSI-C written function blocks via the GNU-Compiler with the tool xROB-C. The main advantage to other Solutions is the Vision system, the relation of cost to performance and the wide area of possible applications. Because of the easy to use visual programming technology it can be used by all age groups. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.