Using real-time Java for industrial robot control

Abstract

Safe languages like Java provide a much more programmer-friendly environment than the low-level languages in which real-time and embedded software have traditionally been implemented. However, an obstacle for widespread use of Java in control applications has been the predictability and real-time performance of garbage collection, and the cumbersome memory management associated with RTSJ No-HeapRealtimeThreads. The current version of the Sun Java Real-Time System includes a real-time garbage collector, and therefore, it is interesting to examine its feasibility for robot motion control.