TCL , Robotics and Remote Controlled HW !

[Pats]

This is the query from some underGraduate students working on some Mechanical Autonomous System Project:

Is TCL suitable for Robotics and Remote Controlled Hardwares in real world applications ?

What abt reliability and stability of the system  if incorporated in such systems ?

~ Pats

[Juanito]

I've run tinycore for 125+ days without any problems

[^thehatsrule^]

If your project needs some kind of real time requirement, you could build it for TC or use a distro with that support.

If you're looking for commercial support, they're usually offered for 'mainstream' distros.

[Guy]

I have found Tiny Core to always be stable and reliable.

That combined with it's small size makes it ideal.

However, I don't know your specific needs.

[Pats]

Sorry for the balated response - some professional commitments ,you know !
And thanks for response from you all !

Actually, the young guys are thinking on sub-$500 project and collected lots of info from the following links:

http://www.linuxpcrobot.org/
http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/Linux-For-Devices-Articles/Linuxpowered-Robots-Quick-Reference-Guide/
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/9103
http://www.mhprofessional.com/product.php?isbn=007144484X
Fujitsu miniature humanoid robot runs RTLinux

--- And some realtime demos from some following designs just for knowledge ----
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Meet OAP -- an open robot reference design project

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More details on Intel's XScale/Linux robotics platform

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Startup's "open" software platform for personal robotics runs Linux

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Miniature Linux-based XScale SBC for mobile robotics

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Linux in robotics

Linux-powered mobile robot communicates by email, webserver

Intel researchers combine mobile robots, wireless, silicon, Linux

Intel gives PCs eyes with open-source software
----  ----   ----

I am just trying to help them with different info sources available on net.
And since TCLs basic footprint is below 10MB and it mostly needs Linux w/o X, so I told them to give it a try - if possible. Lot of time with them - until Summer-11 to complete their project.

Any info on the subject is welcome !

Let us see !

~ Pats

[Arslan S.]

i have tried tiny core kernel with real time preemption patch and run some tests

here is the wiki page where you can make a start
http://rt.wiki.kernel.org

asus laptop 2.5 GHz core2m had average 5us jitter maximum 10us
desktop core2 4.25GHz had 2us avarage maximum 5us jitter with cpu load 100%

also applied square wave test (you can find it in wiki page above) and generated square waves at the parallel port and observed output via an ossiloscope. with the cpu 100% loaded I was satisfied with very good deterministic behaviour down to period of 100us

jitter means the time that passess between the actual response time of kernel to real time threads and what it must be in real time.

just an idea you can write a kernel module to output control signals via the parallel port to low level controllers
also there is the option of real time serial port





 

[Pats]

i have tried tiny core kernel with real time preemption patch and run some tests

here is the wiki page where you can make a start
http://rt.wiki.kernel.org

Thanks , arslanserc  !
We found it really helpful !

just an idea you can write a kernel module to output control signals via the parallel port to low level controllers
also there is the option of real time serial port

Interesting idea ! I am putting this to the project gang !

Thanks for your kind gesture !

~ Pats