Dynamically reconfigurable hardware for autonomous mini-robots

Reconfigurable hardware (e.g., Field Programmable Gate Arrays - FPGAs) has been successfully used as processing units in various mini-robotic applications. In this work, we pursue to improve the utilization of reconfigurable hardware by introducing dynamic reconfiguration. A hardware-software architecture is presented, which enables the realization of dynamic reconfiguration for usage on autonomous mini-robots. Two application examples are presented. The first application is dealing with principles of reconfigurable digital controllers, the second is image processing in the context of robot vision. Platforms for the implementation of the principles are the mini-robot Khepera as well as a novel mini-robot providing dynamic reconfiguration and a chassis fabricated in MID technology for integrating mechanical and electrical components.