I can't get tired of watching Commander Hatfield's videos aboard the Space Shuttle. I am particularly impressed about how the Canadarm2 has.played a critical role in building the international station putting Canada at the leading age of robotics in the world. | |
All these amazing accomplishments in space exploration have resulted in marvels of engineering that have pushed the design boundaries to the limits resulting in the newest technologies invented today.Along with military technology, microchips technology, space technology is in a category on itself. The space engineering standards of design are way more robust as you have to get it right the first time. As Professor Malone from Aerospace Design class use to tell us "You don't get practice runs when you send stuff to the moon." And that's what I am to discuss today: emulation and why they are so critical to design, especially for young kids using the Raspberry Pi.
Emulators are computer programs that simulate computer hardware. Similar to what is called simulators that most people are familiar with; emulators help test computer software, electronics prior to deployment.
Nothing is more fun than putting everything together when working an engineering project, the result of hours of hard work consolidated; nothing beats the feeling when you watch all components work as intended. It's beautiful. But in reality is that external pressures can make a project very stressful, steps are skipped and lack of testing result in high cost that could have been prevented at the design stage if proper testing protocols were designed to begin with.
I am not proud to say but this is very common in the manufacturing industry when installing equipment. If all the parties are not involved from the start of the project: operators, mechanics, engineers, buyers, planners, managers, etcetera and truly understand how the equipment will work, it's guaranteed that there will be problems at start-up no matter how talented the project engineers were. I could share horror stories on how much that costs. Let's just say if you were to do that space, we probably will not be thinking of going to Mars now.
And yes I know the space industry is not perfect either; there have been many failures in space exploration but overall the industry has the highest standards engineers can aspire too and with the best records in safety and performance. So back to the Raspberry Pi. If we create a mentality early on to use an inexpensive hardware like a disposable item it will create the bad behaviour of trial, testing and troubleshooting at the Gemba (where action happens in Japanese or production floor).
Moreover later this behaviour is reflected in the factories and no matter where things are made or how they are made they still need to be made, therefore factories are and will be essential in our societies. Skipping steps has costed immensely to the environment just think of oil spillages, nuclear reactors accidents, and with the very unfortunate loss of lives. Engineers carry a responsibility, we all take an oath, therefore I encourage and promote the use of emulators whenever possible.
Emulators have limitations as simulating reality and multiple interactions can be very tricky yet they are very critical part of project design. Raspberry Pi has Qemu which is very powerful but of course with many limitations when it comes to hardware emulation. Please don't get me wrong I am not criticizing as I appreciate the effort of developing software like Qemu takes, however I believe the demand is not there as in general people see the Raspberry Pi as almost disposable item. If you would like to find a good emulator check out this website from Brent Stains. It's a little more advance but highly recommend it when design robots with Raspberry Pi:
https://bstains.wordpress.com/2014/05/01/java-8-embedded-getting-started-w-raspberry-pi-focus/
So remember if you are working on your first project or teaching your kids robotics, it's very important to spend the time to plan and emulate the behaviour of computer code prior to go to the Gemba. It's also possible to test all the electronics prior to connect and challenge yourself to vertical start-ups. Not only you will save time and money, you will establish a good habit in our future engineers and do amazing things like Canadarm2.
Cheers for now, love to hear your comments.
Omar