RoBoard RB-050
by roboard
Wed Apr 06, 2011 6:28 am
Kinoc wrote:...Will the USB output be regulated, or is a better regulated input required for such applications?
RB-100 employs Linear LT3481 switching regulator for generating stable USB's 5V supply; fuses are also put at every USB port for protection. All USB devices that we use up to now work fine on RB-100 and so we have not met your situation. May you mention more details about how your issue occured (e.g., which USB connector of RB-100 are your Phidgets sensors connected with? Is there any large-power motors or servos connected to RB-100 at the same time? Is there any device that can cause large EMI near RB-100 and your sensors?), and we will try to debug your issue.
by roboard
Mon Apr 18, 2011 12:05 pm
Some people ask for size comparison of RB-050 with other x86 thin-client computers. The following are some pictures for this.
The left is the popular fit-PC2, adopted by Robotis' DARwIn-OP. The middle is an currently unreleased low-cost PC that we made together with RB-050 (it uses Vortex86MX+ & 1GB RAM, can be powered by USB and costed at about a half of fit-PC2; it is made for 3C customers and not for Robotics: no I/O interface/protection/temperature performance/wide-range power input/...). The right is RB-050, which will get production in April~May.
The left is the popular fit-PC2, adopted by Robotis' DARwIn-OP. The middle is an currently unreleased low-cost PC that we made together with RB-050 (it uses Vortex86MX+ & 1GB RAM, can be powered by USB and costed at about a half of fit-PC2; it is made for 3C customers and not for Robotics: no I/O interface/protection/temperature performance/wide-range power input/...). The right is RB-050, which will get production in April~May.
by roboard
Tue Apr 19, 2011 5:39 am
RN1AsOf091407 wrote:Out of curiosity, how much power does the MX consume? Can the VGA circuitry inside be powered down? ...
Hi Paul,
Vortex86MX+ is a "multimedia" successor of Vortex86DX. It have >2x speed over Vortex86DX and its integrated VGA is more fast and lower-power than XGI-Z9s (RB-100/110's VGA); total power of CPU + VGA is about < 3W. Its VGA can be powered down.
However, Vortex86MX+ isn't very suited to industrial control.
Actually, Vortex86DX has another very high-end "Robotics" successor designed for industrial robots, which will appear in 2012. (It and RB-050 are what we worked hard on in the past year.) The successor may not be suited to hobby robotics because it may have a quite high cost due to its industrial-robotics specification and application. (You can pm to me in this forum if you are interested in it).
Last edited by roboard on Sat Jul 02, 2011 4:18 pm, edited 3 times in total.
by roboard
Fri May 13, 2011 6:03 am
i-Bot wrote:Seems hard to believe this thread started in Feb. Now May and no product available date.
Hi, i-Bot,
the function verification of RB-050 have been completed in March. The production of RB-050 is delayed due to other issues (e.g., improve the metallic shell, refine the cost of RB-050 to make it more cheap...).
But currently RB-050 has run into the production process; we hope very much that we can exhibit mass-produced RB-050 in 2011 Computex show.
by roboard
Wed May 18, 2011 5:30 am
gdo wrote:...How the Vortex86MX is recognized under Linux, always as a i486 ?
I just wondering about it since ubuntu 10.10 and further does not support processor under i686 without cmov instructions any more.
...
Hi gdo,
Vortex86MX/MX+ cannot support SSE and i686 cmov instructions due to Intel's patents. But we will continue to provide the newest Linux kernel for both Vortex86MX/MX+ and Vortex86DX.
Last edited by roboard on Sat May 28, 2011 5:34 pm, edited 2 times in total.
by siempre.aprendiendo
Tue May 24, 2011 1:51 pm
roboard wrote:
The left is the popular fit-PC2, adopted by Robotis' DARwIn-OP. The middle is an currently unreleased low-cost PC that we made together with RB-050 (it uses Vortex86MX+ & 1GB RAM, can be powered by USB and costed at about a half of fit-PC2; it is made for 3C customers and not for Robotics: no I/O interface/protection/temperature performance/wide-range power input/...). The right is RB-050, which will get production in April~May.
No news?
by PedroR
Tue May 24, 2011 4:30 pm
Hi siempre-aprendiendo
We're also waiting for Roboard 050 and will get them in stock as soon as they're available. I believe DMP is finalizing everything.
You know the old saying: you get 90% of the funcionality in 50% of the time (hence the remaining 10% should be taking the other 50% of the time)
Now for the reason of my post:
We'll be getting a couple of the small Embedded PCs in the picture (in 3 weeks time). We've seen benchmarks of it (with the <strike>new Vortex86MX+ processor) and it outperforms Roboard in memory operations by a factor of 2x (and comes with 2x the memory)</strike>.
[EDIT] turns out that, contrary to what roboard posted, the small PC in the picture does not outperform Roboard by 2 or 3 times; in its current incarnation it's processor is based the one used on the Roboard (but has the VGA built onto the chip) and not the new Vortex86MX+; it's main advatange at the moment is having twice the memory (512Mb), 3 USB ports and very low power consumption. [/EDIT]
[EDIT June 25th] The small Form Factor PC (eBox 3350MX) is now available for purchase in our store http://robosavvy.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/1704 [/EDIT]
All other specs are similar (same clock rate, same instruction set)
<strike>It is also faster than AMD Gecode (used in Nao) and less performant than a FitPC2.</strike> (these specs would be for Vortex86MX+ which isn't being released yet).
Measures 95mm X 95mm X 2mm (smaller than FitPC) and weights 270grs.
Price will probably be the best selling point.
It is not exactly "small" in robotics terms but we're curious to see what it can do. Many Robocup teams and DarWin-OP as well now use FitPC2 and if this model is smaller (and way cheapper!) than FtiPC2 then it may have a place and a market for it.
It lacks all Robotics features just like FitPC so you're supposed to add a CM-700 or a USB2Dynamixel or other.
DMP also suggested that combining this with a Roboard 050 make for a very powerful combination.
Regards
Pedro.
We're also waiting for Roboard 050 and will get them in stock as soon as they're available. I believe DMP is finalizing everything.
You know the old saying: you get 90% of the funcionality in 50% of the time (hence the remaining 10% should be taking the other 50% of the time)
Now for the reason of my post:
We'll be getting a couple of the small Embedded PCs in the picture (in 3 weeks time). We've seen benchmarks of it (with the <strike>new Vortex86MX+ processor) and it outperforms Roboard in memory operations by a factor of 2x (and comes with 2x the memory)</strike>.
[EDIT] turns out that, contrary to what roboard posted, the small PC in the picture does not outperform Roboard by 2 or 3 times; in its current incarnation it's processor is based the one used on the Roboard (but has the VGA built onto the chip) and not the new Vortex86MX+; it's main advatange at the moment is having twice the memory (512Mb), 3 USB ports and very low power consumption. [/EDIT]
[EDIT June 25th] The small Form Factor PC (eBox 3350MX) is now available for purchase in our store http://robosavvy.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/1704 [/EDIT]
All other specs are similar (same clock rate, same instruction set)
<strike>It is also faster than AMD Gecode (used in Nao) and less performant than a FitPC2.</strike> (these specs would be for Vortex86MX+ which isn't being released yet).
Measures 95mm X 95mm X 2mm (smaller than FitPC) and weights 270grs.
Price will probably be the best selling point.
It is not exactly "small" in robotics terms but we're curious to see what it can do. Many Robocup teams and DarWin-OP as well now use FitPC2 and if this model is smaller (and way cheapper!) than FtiPC2 then it may have a place and a market for it.
It lacks all Robotics features just like FitPC so you're supposed to add a CM-700 or a USB2Dynamixel or other.
DMP also suggested that combining this with a Roboard 050 make for a very powerful combination.
Regards
Pedro.
Last edited by PedroR on Tue Jun 28, 2011 5:11 pm, edited 5 times in total.
by roboard
Wed May 25, 2011 7:13 am
siempre.aprendiendo wrote:No news?
We are surprised by that many people are concerned with this board (when there are currently several excellent TI OMAP-based boards appearing in the field).
As Pedro says, we are finalizing everything. The big issue we now encounter is the quality of mass-produced metallic shell from the third-party manufacturer; when we don't want to sell poor-quality products, we are very sorry on that we can't guarantee the definite date of releasing RB-050 at the moment.
by PedroR
Wed May 25, 2011 9:31 am
Hi roboard
I think the main advantage and great appeal of your product is that you can run PC operating systems (x86 Linux and Windows).
This makes it much easier for people to get started with the board and means there is a LOT of software available for it.
With OMAP you usually need to get a toolchain and compile everything from scratch which has a very steep learning curve and is time consuming (or get a pre built Linux image but you'll face a limited number of ready to use packages).
In addition one other great advantage we see on Roboard is that it takes care of all power and signal regulation. This seems like a simple task but having to it yourself is really a pain and you end up with a bunch of boards and wires.
We do look forward for the Roboard 050 and hope the price tag is also set a very sweet spot (like you hinted in your post)
Regards
Pedro.
I think the main advantage and great appeal of your product is that you can run PC operating systems (x86 Linux and Windows).
This makes it much easier for people to get started with the board and means there is a LOT of software available for it.
With OMAP you usually need to get a toolchain and compile everything from scratch which has a very steep learning curve and is time consuming (or get a pre built Linux image but you'll face a limited number of ready to use packages).
In addition one other great advantage we see on Roboard is that it takes care of all power and signal regulation. This seems like a simple task but having to it yourself is really a pain and you end up with a bunch of boards and wires.
We do look forward for the Roboard 050 and hope the price tag is also set a very sweet spot (like you hinted in your post)
Regards
Pedro.
by siempre.aprendiendo
Wed May 25, 2011 6:32 pm
roboard wrote:siempre.aprendiendo wrote:No news?
We are surprised by that many people are concerned with this board (when there are currently several excellent TI OMAP-based boards appearing in the field).
...
At least for me, there is another very important question: a responsive support. Yours and robosavvy community is great!
