FEATURE Robotics


Enabling robot T


he Robot Operating System, or ROS, is middleware that contains a set of software libraries and developer


tools – from drivers to state-of-the- art algorithms – upon which robotic systems and applications are built. ROS was developed in 2007 and became one of the most popular prototyping platforms for robotic development in fields like industrial robots, autonomous and aerial vehicles, and more.


ROS has continuously evolved and now has two versions: ROS1 and ROS2.


ADI ROS developments ADI is an official member of the ROS Industrial Consortium – an open-source project that extends the advanced capabilities of ROS software to hardware and applications. Being a part of this community, ADI has initially targeted dedicated modules geared toward the industrial domain. And, to showcase the developed drivers and leverage the capabilities of ROS, ADI developed the Analog Devices Autonomous Mobot, or ADAM – an in-house autonomous


Enabling robot operating systems


operating systems


By Krizelle Paulene Apostol, Software Systems Engineer, Jamila Macagba, Senior Software Systems Engineer, and Maggie Maralit, Software Systems Design Engineering Manager, all with Analog Devices


mobile platform; see Figures 1 and 2. Figure 2 shows the high-level hardware diagram of ADAM with its modules, including: • ADIS16470 or IMU sensors based on multiaxis combinations of precision gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers and pressure sensors, which are primarily used as sensing feedback to improve position/direction estimation. • ADBMS6948, a multicell battery monitor, measuring up to 16 series- connected battery cells with very high measurement accuracy over the entire temperature range. • EVAL-ADTF3175D-NXZ or CMOS


ToF camera offering the highest resolution in the market, and can be complemented with depth computation and processing, laser drivers, power management, and development tools with reference firmware/software. • ADI Trinamic motor controllers, which are complete, board-level solutions for embedded motion control, equipped with ADI Trinamic motion control expertise and ADI’s analogue process technology and power design skills.


Figure 1: Analog Devices Autonomous Mobot, or ADAM


ADI Trinamic Motor Controller ADI Trinamic Motor Controllers (TMCs) are complete, board-level solutions for embedded motion control, equipped with ADI Trinamic motion control expertise as well as ADI’s analogue process technology and power design skills. Supporting various types of motors, like single and multiple-axis stepper and brushless DC (BLDC), the available interfaces include CAN, EtherCAT, RS-232, RS-485 and USB, and the protocols support ranges from Trinamic Motion Control Language (TMCL), CANopen over EtherCAT (CoE), CANopen and Modbus.An IDE called TMCL-IDE is available to assist users in developing applications and allow easy reprogramming of the modules. It uses either TMCL for standalone operation or the standardised CANopen protocol, and it allows users to set parameters, visualise data in real time, and develop/debug standalone applications. As TMCs enable a new class of intelligent actuators and as ROS becomes more prevalent, especially in robotics, additional support like ROS drivers for these modules were developed to extend use cases even further for manufacturing and industrial automation.  • Control the motors’ velocity, position and torque. • Monitor motor controller and motor information.


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Figure 2: High-level hardware diagram of ADI’s ADAM July/August 2024 | Automation


The TMC ROS driver is similar  that it enables nodes from a ROS- capable system to readily use these TMCs without installing any additional drivers. Although inititally it supports only the CAN  other interfaces are in development and will be available soon.


automationmagazine.co.uk


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