COMMON ARCHITECTURE
& COMPONENTS
MobileRobots's
P-series robots are a family of mobile robots including Pioneers,
PeopleBots,
PowerBots and PatrolBots. Some are small, some are tall, some have
two-wheel-drive, some have four-, but all are intelligent robots with a
standard core architecture.
Since
1995, MobileRobots platforms have contained all
of the basic components for sensing and navigation in a real-world
environment,
including battery power, drive motors and wheels, position / speed
encoders,
and integrated sensors and accessories. They are all managed via an
onboard
microcontroller and mobile-robot server software.
Each
MobileRobots platform also has a variety of expansion power and I/O
ports
for
optional, custom attachments. These include an addressable I/O
bus
for up to 16 devices, RS-232 serial port(s), digital I/O ports, five
A/D
ports, PSU controllers and more — all accessible through a common
application
interface to the robot server software. 
With
the onboard computer option, even more RS-232 ports, a PCI bus
and
space for PC104+ accessory cards becomes available. With Ethernet-ready
onboard
autonomy, our robots become plug-and-play agents for multi-intelligence
work.
Because
the core architecture of our robots is the same, many accessories are
integrated
across a number of platforms. This makes porting behaviors to new
robots
or new team members easy. It also allows us to provide more integrated
accessories
for our robots.
MODES OF OPERATION
Our
research robots operate in at least four modes:
- Standalone
- Server
Mode
- Joystick
Drive
- Self-test
Robots
that are also used by the general public may have additional modes for
navigation, surveillance, security and other applications. The four
core modes are nearly always available,
even if they may not be visible to the non-professional user.
|
CLIENT-SERVER
COMMUNICATION OPTIONS
Four Types of Serial
Connection from
Robot Server to PC Client (though shown with P3-DX, these
configurations
work with any robot)
Client-server
serial communications may take any of these forms:
- Robot
tethered to an offboard PC
- Robot
communicating wirelessly with offboard PC via radio
modem
- Robot
carrying a tethered laptop
- Robot
with an embedded
onboard computer
|
|
1.
STANDALONE
MODE
The
robot controllers come with 32K flash-programmable, read-only memory
(flash-ROM)
as part of their microprocessor and an additional 32K of dynamic RAM:
64K
total memory space for custom processor-based robotics programs in
native
code, depending upon the microprocessor. The latter feature will only
be
used by advanced programmers creating server-side behaviors, available
on
boot-up.
For
experiments in microcontroller-level operation of robotics functions,
you
may reprogram the onboard flash-ROM and RAM for direct and standalone
operation
of Pioneer 2. We supply the means to download,
but
not the microcontroller's programming software, for you to work in
standalone
mode.
In
fact, the download utilities we provide for you to reprogram the
controller's
flash-ROM and RAM also are used to update and upgrade the robot's OS.
We
typically provide the upgrades free for download from our customer
service
website, so be sure to sign up for
the
pioneer-users newslist. That's where we notify our customers of the
upgrades,
as well as where we provide access to P-series users worldwide.
2. SERVER
MODE
Most
programmers maximize their efforts by programming in higher-level C/C++
on
the client side. In conjunction with client software, such as ARIA
running on the onboard PC or a user-supplied computer, MBOS
lets
you take advantage of modern client /server and robot-control
technologies
to perform advanced robot tasks. (See Chapter 6, Pioneer 2 Operating
System,
Pioneer Operations Manual for details.)
Most
users prefer to run Pioneer in server mode from the client side,
because
it gives them quick, easy access to the robotics functionality while
working
in high-level software on a familiar host computer.
3.
JOYSTICK-DRIVE
& 4. SELF-TEST MODES
Finally,
we provide onboard software that lets you drive the robot from a
tethered
joystick. And we provide some self-test programs that exercise robot
microcontroller
hardware and software. |
MULTI-ROBOT & ETHERNET OPERATION
Robots
with onboard computers can be run in server mode as X-Windows terminals
(linux)
or with WIN terminal emulation software over Ethernet from a remote PC.
Ethernet
may be a wired or wireless connection between the robots and the LAN
hub.
An Ethernet cross-over cable may be used to make a wired peer-to-peer
connection.
Robots with Onboard Computers
Communicating
Via Wireless Ethernet
(though shown with P2-DX, this option
works
with any robot with onboard PC)
 |
