Robotic platform Logitraxx does not rely on any software and has no CPU, yet demonstrates a method for building autonomous robots using FPGAs alone.
Chandler, AZ July 24, 2014
SL Interphase has recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the production of its first robot kit called Logitraxx. Logitraxx is unique in the hardware space as it utilizes an FPGA for more than simply assisting a processor with hardware acceleration, but instead relies solely on its FPGA for all processing duties.
You may have seen modern day PCs off-load 3D graphics and physics engines to hardware accelerators via external graphics cards with enormous speed lifts. SLI's pushes this idea to the extreme making the entire device hardware based. SLI has designed and built a couple of technology demonstrators detailing the steps necessary to build sensor and motor control algorithms, as well as decision making statemachines. All this is part of an autonomous educational robot designed to help other enthusiasts interested in the idea get a jump start on building their own hardware based autonomous robots.
Unlike the traditional microprocessor (CPU) which executes its instructions sequentially in one-at-a-time fashion, FPGAs can do hundreds of tasks simultaneously.
Modern FPGAs now have internal RAM blocks that can be fully customized with digital signal processor (DSP) slices, and integrated high speed transceivers. When combined with its virtually unlimited logic combinatorial possibilities, FPGA internals can be assembled like silicon legos into some very powerful hardware.
The Logitraxx campaign will fund until August 24 with a delivery scheduled to be in time for the Christmas holidays. For information, see the campaign page.
SL Interphase is an electronic design services company specializing in product development for commercial, industrial, and defense industries. We are also specialized in rugged electronics development for extreme environments. At SLI, we can handle all aspects of the development cycle from concept to production.For information, visit our website http://www.sl-interphase.com or email us at info(at)sl-interphase(dot)com.