Continue to Site

Welcome to EDAboard.com

Welcome to our site! EDAboard.com is an international Electronics Discussion Forum focused on EDA software, circuits, schematics, books, theory, papers, asic, pld, 8051, DSP, Network, RF, Analog Design, PCB, Service Manuals... and a whole lot more! To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

Platform to chose - Arduino/Raspberry Pi, or something else?

Status
Not open for further replies.

horitbros

Newbie level 2
Joined
Jan 31, 2016
Messages
2
Helped
0
Reputation
0
Reaction score
0
Trophy points
1
Activity points
29
Hi,

My company makes physical rehabilitation equipment based on various pendulums, fulcrums, levers that swing, push, rotate, etc.. To date the machines have been purely mechanical devices. We are now looking to add some intelligence to these machines, e.g:

- sensors (accelerometers, gyrometers, angular velocity, pressure sensors, bend sensors) to take reading about pendulum movements, repetitions, pressure on pads etc and other operational parameters, necessary to understand how machines operate

Each machine would have 1-3 sensors that we need to take the readings.

We then need to perform trigonometric calculations for torque, maximum velocity, etc. (probably on the processor on the machine or even in the cloud (?)

then..

- send the data (raw or processed) to the cloud server which will analyze the data
- receive feedback from the cloud server based on analysis of the data received from the machine
- have a touch screen to display:
a) the progression of the program (reppetition count, maybe a torque curve, etc) and combine it with b) data received from the server (e.g adjustments to the program)

it also need to:

- authenticate users on the system using something like a RFID band or maybe a fingerprint scanner

And possibly:

- have a camera for recording of exercise progression and stream the video to the cloud - not sure about that though...

What platform(s) or combinations would you recommend to use to manage the cost of the hardware in under few hundred dollars that can perform something like that?

Looking now at Arduino, Raspberry Pi, but unsure if these can do it best...

Many thanks for advise.
 

Dear, arduino is a toy for children. May be PI more sutable, if you don't want to design your own h/w
 

What about Lemaker? Banana Pi?
 

Pi doesn't have sufficient GPIO pins. Go for Custom board using PIC32MX795F512L chip. It is a 32 bit controller and can run at 80 MHz. Have 2 32 Timers. Have 100 pins, SPI, UART, I2C, etc...

You can interface TFT to it in 8 bit or 16 bit parallel or 4 wire SPI modes.

First decide how many sensors are you going to use in total and how many of them use I2C or SPI for communication. Then find out how many sensors use GPIO pins for interfacing and put the info here.

You may also try FreeSoC2 or PSoC chip. You can create as many timers, counters, UARTs, SPI, I2C channels as you want. Software is free.

Go for PIC32 or STM32 or PSoC 5LP devices.
 

You are planning in reverse. Look first what you want to do:

1. Things that must be done;
2. Things that are highly preferable;
3. Make a list of sensors and modules (motors, solenoids etc.)
4. Now think over the user interface;
5. Plan a flow chart for the hardware;
6. Think about the platform;
7. Last but not the least, the dirty details.
8. Always keep space for improvements.
9. Think over whether you can use the same platform for several versions OR different applications.

You mention that you are thinking of about 1-3 sensors per machine; perhaps this is too less and you need to design for 5-8 (need not use all in all machines).
Use drivers for each sensor. It will simplify your software in future.
 

There are examples on the Web using image processing with the BeagleBone Black ( also dubbed "BBB" ), which is a core with an architecture few more powerful if compared to the Raspberry PI, but it costs almost 10$ more expensive.
 

If you are considering making custom electronics boards to get lower cost,
you might consider using ARM Cortex Chip like STM32.
https://www.st.com/web/en/catalog/mmc/FM141/SC1169?sc=stm32

Also STM32 development boards are feature packed and low in cost.

Only down side is you will need a good programmer to implement your business rules.
But once its validated in the field, you can enjoy the benefits.
 

Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Part and Inventory Search

Welcome to EDABoard.com

Sponsor

Back
Top