A distributed I/O low-level controller for highly-dexterous snake robots

Abstract

A robot can be seen as a set of actuated joints, each connected to a processing unit that senses feedback signals and generates actuation commands. For robots with high locomotive sophistication, commonly seen in medical robotics, the requisite cabling and control processing can become unwieldy. Motivated by dexterous snake-like robots for minimally invasive surgery, this paper explores the use of IEEE 1394 (FireWire), attached directly to low-latency field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), to distribute I/O and centralize processing. This increases the viability of complex medical robots by reducing cabling and consolidating processing, thereby making systems more agile, reliable, and scalable.