Modeling FPGA-based Architectures for Robotics

There have been partial contributions in the state-of-the-art about FPGAs being part of robotics systems. However, a study of FPGAs as a whole for robotics systems is missing in the literature. This means that defining all the components required for an FPGA-based system for robotics applications as a whole, their integration into existing solutions, and the generation of said components has not been done. The traditional robotics workflow involves many disciplines (e.g., mechatronics, control, software) where experts deal with the integration of all individual parts. We propose a model-based component-oriented workflow, focusing on easing the integration of all the parts to deploy FPGA-based robotics systems automatically. Our systematic approach reduces ten times the effort needed to deploy a system than doing it manually. Furthermore, it converts an arduous and error-prone process of doing it manually into a simple system description.