With virtualization
Congatec and Real-Time Systems Let Robot Play the Piano
The robot continues to play the piano without interruption while the Windows user interface restarts: This is only possible with virtualization and shows the reliability of the hypervisor and the real-time operating system.
The computer module provider congatec presents a virtualized embedded computing platform for the simple consolidation of PLC and user interface hardware. The demo platform with a piano-playing hexapod robot runs on standard hardware from congatec. A hypervisor from Real-Time Systems (RTS) runs the real-time operating system VxWorks with a soft PLC from Codesys and a Windows 10 system with the graphical user interface. The demo controller of the platform controls the three servo motors of the hexapod and is programmed to touch piano keys. The Windows user interface ist used – like a jukebox – to select the music to be played by the robot. To demonstrate the independence of the real-time operating system from the parallelly operated Microsoft Windows, the user interface can be restarted while the robot continues to play the piano. This impressive demonstration will be shown for the first time at the IoT/M2M Expo in Japan.
»The combination of congatec hardware and RTS hypervisor technology creates an embedded computing platform for intelligent motion controllers. Hardware and soft PLC are available as ready-to-install modules. In addition, the hypervisor supports all combinations of common real-time and general-purpose operating systems that OEMs may need,« explains Martin Danzer, Director of Product Management at congatec.
Controls up to Eight Axes
In a quad-core configuration with the Intel Xeon E3-1505M V6 processor (4x 3.0/4.0 GHz, 8 MB cache), the platform supports up to 8 threads to operate up to 8 real-time axis controllers in parallel or to integrate smart vision and deep learning. The design is based on the conga-TS175 COM Express module and is predestined for high workloads with 7th generation Intel Xeon or Core processors (codenamed Kaby Lake). The modules are mounted on the conga-IT6 carrier board. Users of this new Mini-ITX board for Computer-on-Modules can scale their applications across all relevant processor generations and manufacturers as required.
On a project basis, the real-time hypervisor-enabled hardware can be adapted to any required communication logic. Hardware interfaces such as Ethercat, MelsecNet, and FINS or CC-Link, CANopen, DeviceNet, and RS-232 as well as any other open Industrial Ethernet and fieldbus standard can be supported. A 60-day licensed version of the Real-Time Hypervisor is available on request.
