Rex – palm-sized, single-board computer for DIY robots(kickstarter.com) |
Rex – palm-sized, single-board computer for DIY robots(kickstarter.com) |
It does seem like they could target the Beagle Bone Black and focus on the software, but they probably wanted more control over the power and peripheral connect strategy than the BBB provides.
The processor they chose includes an integrated DSP, which could be useful for sensor data processing--or even motor control. The original BeagleBoard offered an OMAP with a DSP, but TI is discontinuing the OMAP line[2] and the newer BBB uses a Sitara A8 processor without the DSP. I didn't see the Rex's processor choice listed on the kickstarter page, but I'd guess it's something like TI's DM3730[3].
In summary, they seem to want to design a board specifically for robotics rather than building upon an existing general-purpose platform. This will give them more control over the power and peripheral strategy that will allow them to achieve a higher level of integration. This could also simplify software by limiting the number of busses and "tacked on" peripherals.
The founders come from Carnegie Mellon University, which has a first class robotics program. Also check out the CMUcam[4] project--an open source, computer vision module. The Pixy (CMUcam5) was funded[5] in September and looks really cool.
Edit: Check out the Rex page on the Alphalem site[6] too. It says that the "Rex can supply up to 20A directly from a 6-12V Ni-MH battery to connected devices. That's more than enough to power a couple servo drivers, Arduinos, rangefinders, and full servo load on an 18-servo hexapod robot!"
[1]: http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=23205
[2]: http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1262580
[3]: http://www.ti.com/product/dm3730
[5]: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/254449872/pixy-cmucam5-a...
I am always a little nervous about building a robot around a board when I am uncertain about how it will be supported. If you are really building robots that are going to be used out doors or in rugged environments you want to be able to replace every part. Controller boards aren't really the expensive part of robots.
For Decapitron, an autonomous combat robot (http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php/140197-Decapitron!), I have had to replace the controller board twice. That may sound like a lot but shorts and power surges aren't that strange in combat. But now that board isn't made anymore. So it is a big problem if the board gets damaged in combat. That's the advantage of using something really standard, like Arduino or Raspberry Pi. I can get one of those next year.
Still, I will try this.
- SdCard + full-blown OS = SdCard dies after a while? Or more serious problems like the rPi simply yielding it empty? Could another type of storage be used to boot and run from?
- more information on the OS? What's it based on? Open source so we can fiddle with it?
- what processor is that exactly? Likely the manufacturer provides an OS + libs for it as well (like Ti does for their OMAP), probably the board can be booted with that as well?
- will the schematics be open-sourced?
- debugging capabilities of running programs?
btw quite some comments starting with "I wonder" here. Authors should provide more information probably..
The OS is based on the Yocto Project, so it's a distro we're putting together ourselves. It's still under heavy development, but the goal is to have something minimal that we can throw all our support under without having to rely as much on other distros that already have tons of other boards/projects to worry about.
We haven't committed to open-sourcing the hardware yet, but all the software will be FOSS. The stuff we have so far is on github, and feedback would be great.
I like the reference to [MCP](http://tron.wikia.com/wiki/MCP)!
[1] TI's budgetary pricing for one such module--the CC3000--is about $10: http://www.ti.com/product/cc3000
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_47_CFR_Part_15#C_-_Intent...
But I can definitely see how the regulatory overhead would be a big deal, and it seems like that regulation also makes other aspects of integration more bureaucratic. Like I bet a bunch of these chips could be used inappropriately (e.g., to emit stronger signals than are allowed) and they are using NDAs and such as an alternative to other security measures. In a sense USB wireless standards are the one interface/security layer that is well enough spec'd that it is easy to integrate.
* Admittedly, that $10 is budgetary pricing and would probably come down with negotiation (and there might be cheaper low-volume options--that's just one I knew of offhand). But that's likely still the order of magnitude for the quantities of the Rex.