The Design of a Modular Laboratory for Control Robotics.
Abstract
Computers have been used for the control of physical processes since the early sixties. In this report, we look at Control Robotics, the procedural control of physical processes. Based upon this new approach, a design for a modular laboratory is proposed. The laboratory consists of a set of experiments which can be synthesized using certain conversion and processing modules. The laboratory also entails the generation of algorithms and programs for each experiment. Experiments are proposed and analysed, and a common and in a sense, minimal set of hardware modules is selected using a minimax approach. Power, torque, strength, resolution and other requirements for the modules are discussed. A theoretical model is developed for predicting and analyzing the capability of a processsor to perform real-time control. The model is based upon the so-called Earliest Deadline algorithm foe scheduling a number of tasks on a single processor. The model relates the bandwidths of different tasks a processor can perform to the total number of tasks; the average instruction execution time for the processor; and the complexity of its instruction set. This model is used to exhibit and compare the controlling capacities of two processors - Digital Equipment Corporation's PDP 11/45 and Intel 8080. It is also used to predict the processor requirements for the experiments of the proposed modular laboratory. Thesis results include measures of relative power of the tested processors in the context of real-time control, and their capabilities in carrying out the experiments of the proposed laboratory. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1976
- Accession Number
- ADA030418
Entities
People
- Nikhil Malvania
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology