Asynchronous control framework

Question

Can anyone recommend an Arduino-based asynchronous scheduling library for controlling a small mobile robot?

I'm writing the control code for a small 2-wheeled Arduino-Uno based robot. It has a few bumper sensors, IR sensors, and ultrasonic sensors. I've written an initial pass from scratch, using loop() to read sensors and set motor values appropriately and then wait for the motor to have effect, but I'm finding this cluggy. Some of the sensors, like the ultrasonic range finders, require a small delay to operate, and the motors require a delay to have an effect. Blocking loop() is the simplest way to achieve this, but it wastes cycles, and can be difficult to time each action properly without throwing off other behaviors. Writing an asynchronous scheduler would be more efficient, but a lot more complicated, and I expect I would be reinventing the wheel.

I found this list, of existing scheduling libraries, but I'm not sure which, if any, would be appropriate.

Answer 1

I recommend writing your own in C++. Arduino works well with C++ as it is written in C. You can focus on getting the asynchronous behavior to do what you need instead of writing drivers. I don't think it will take any longer to learn enough C++ to make this work than it will to learn to use, and possibly fix, a library. Your C++ knowledge will be much more generally useful than knowing a specific library.

Igor points out the advantages of going to a real time operating system. I agree and think that, if you want to work on robots long term, you should go with an RTOS and get away from Arduino. Working with C++ and Arduino is one way to get started.

Answer 2

I would recommend ChibiOS: albeit it just got support for Arduino and it lacks a few drivers (I'm writing one for INTx and PCINT), it's got a fundamentally healthy design, a community around it and the author himself is very responsive.

You might have to write or port the drivers for external shields, however the upside is to get rid of the cruft that plagues most of the Arduino libraries.

You can even choose between 2 RTOS:

• ChibiOS RT, a full fledged RTOS.
• ChibiOS NIL, a minimalistic OS, actually almost a scheduler, which leaves more space and execution time for your own code. - But if you check the amount of FLASH taken up by a typical binary built with the default Arduino libraries, you will see that it pulls in a large amount of typically unused stuff, so you could trade that for the use of the full fledged RT.

Disclaimer: I'm just a very happy user of the OS, I do not have any other involvement with it, especially the commercial part.