This week, I was working with Sara to figure out the entire design of our stabilizing robot. The part specifically that I was working on this week was the interfaces for the FPGA to be able to access IMU data as well as output PWM signals to the motors. I began the setup process of the FPGA, but have yet to figure out the software implementation completely. I am researching the pros and cons of using either PYNQ (Python) or Vitis (C/C++) for the software to read the IMU data. I want to use the FPGA logic elements for generating the motor outputs, however, so I am leaning toward Vitis. I have also been working with Sara to complete the Design presentation, and have been preparing for the presentation I will need to do.
Our progress is a little behind. We planned to be able to begin testing as soon as possible, but we are currently waiting for parts to arrive. So we are going to get the whole system ready such that when the right parts arrive, we already have a base that we can test the system with, instead of starting the logic designing step once the parts arrive.
Throughout the next week, after completing the presentation, I want to set up some logic on the FPGA, such that once the motors and sensors arrive, I can quickly integrate them into our system. I would like to perform the IMU sensor fusion algorithm on the FPGA, so I could start by writing a module and creating a testbench as well.