分散式架構之嵌入式乙太網路機器人控制平台之研究

Abstract

當今機器人領域技術發展的如火如荼。系統整合度更趨複雜，現行的機器人規格要求不僅僅要求體積小，重量輕、省電以及高智慧與活動能力。更希望未來能夠擔任家庭的分工伙伴。系統整合已漸漸成為一個必須重視的關鍵性問題。進一步，由於傳統機器人複雜機器人設計為了整合聲音影像運動控制多個Sensor回授，而資訊內容豐富且龐大和複雜大多皆是使用PC-Base或是RISC-Base的集中式架構為基礎，例如ASIMO Robot。然而這些集中式架構本身即需要一個複雜作業系統和應用程式去整合，其本身耗電、系統複雜度高造成系統重複利用率不高，系統架構本身的處理性能限制了機器人交錯協調控制能力與硬體計算之成長能力。 回顧機器人科學研究上，對於此問題探討並不多見。僅有少許文獻上曾提出解決得技術方法例如OPEN-R BUS、CAN BUS等。可是由於其系統頻寬不足和與既有的家庭等公眾網路系統相容性有一定整合上門檻，進一步OPEN-R BUS開發環境的普及和開放性不足且封閉，和發展系統熟悉的人口不多且系統不普遍。仍有期待改進的缺失。為了解決傳統的機器人系統整合與適用性問題，因此本論文為了提出一個通透改善方法。提出以Embedded Internet/Ethernet技術基礎做為通訊媒介來傳導機器人各種交錯的複雜神經訊號概念。藉由回顧現今的工業通訊及軟體發展，並深入探討其系統架構的通透性以及特點。其中關於網路系統的即時性問題，本論文更針對乙太網路的即時性特點與缺失，針對機器人特性的條件提出一個即時網路通訊協議方法(HRTP)，以確保通訊品質的即時性。 本篇論文主要提出分散式嵌入式乙太網路控制平台在機器人系統上的研究。針對其系統概念架構以及使用上的優點與特性提出不同角度的看法。並將嵌入式網路的技術在機器人整合科學領域上的特點與特性做完整的剖析。為了進一步說明與表達，本文更具體提出範例應用歐弟機器狗(O-Di Robot)以及探索者合體機器人(Explorer Robot)。藉由設計範例來解釋與應用此架構的發展彈性。

The system integration effort for intelligent robots has become more and more complex due to the requirement in size, power saving, weight and functionality. PC-based architecture was largely adopted because of its expansion capability and the ease of software development. However, the inherent drawbacks of the PC-based approach such as power consumption also limit the further development of the robot. Several architectures were proposed to offer alternatives of the system integration. For example, OPEN-R bus or CAN bus were discussed and applied to robot systems. By far, the bandwidth of communication and popularity of the bus protocol still prohibit the proposals to be practical in robotics applications. This dissertation proposes a novel distributed embedded control system architecture based on Ethernet, to provide a uniform environment for the integration of real-time control and information exchange. A novel TCP/IP-compatible Hardware Real-Time Protocol (HRTP) is also proposed for real-time capability. This structure focuses on the embedded design of the control network inside a robot. Using embedded Ethernet simplifies the integration of a real-time communications network of an intelligence-type robot system. However, traditional real-time Ethernet technologies have centralized structures, which are large and superfluous for small robot systems. The proposed HRTP, however, is a distributed real-time protocol, which is targeted for embedded real-time Ethernet environments. HRTP provides a low-cost, high-integration and flexible real-time Ethernet environment for small robot systems. This system platform has potential applications in the development of home network based robots. Furthermore, a quadruped robot (O-Di Robot) and a combinational robot system (Explorer Robot) were designed and implemented to demonstrate the proposed framework.