A reconfigurable multiprocessor architecture for reliable control of robotic systems

The paper describes a reliable multiprocessor system designed for real time control applications and specifically applied to the control of a six legged walking machine. The system consists of four Intel 8086 based computers with four buses and can execute tasks in parallel or in a redundant configuration with two or three processors executing the same task in a loosely synchronized manner. The system is continuously reconfigured so that every processor gets checked out by participating in a redundant configuration. A combined hardware-software scheme is used for voting. Hardware comparators compare outputs of pairs of processors whereas buffer selection, fault identification and error correction are done by software. Thus advantages of both hardware and software schemes are exploited. The hexapod is simulated by a fifth computer.