The Beobot Computing Cluster

The Cluster

On top of the Beobot is a mini-computing cluster comprising of two dual-CPU motherboards and 4 Pentium III Coppermine CPUs. It is like a miniaturized version of the Beowulf cluster, hence the name Beobot.

The Motherboards

We used two of the dual-CPU embedded motherboards (Rocky-3742EVFG). This motherboard is mobile and can support flash memory, gigabit ethernet and IEEE-1394 firewire. There is even an internal AC97 audio in case we need to use the Beobot to annoy somebody.

The CPUs

The Beobot uses 4 of these FC-PGA Pentium IIIs - 2 on each motherboard! The combined horsepower is enough to process a constant stream of images coming in from the cameras.

The Storage System

Since we cannot use a hard drive, we decided to use a generic compact flash memory as a replacement! Enough to store a Linux kernel and our cool Vision software.

The CPU Platform

Creating a frame for the boards is challenging - the boards are dense and they have no screw holes. Thankfully, we found a way to solve this problem:

The CPU boards rest on a rubber mat; appropriate cut-outs have been laser-cut to accommodate for the various components; the rubber mat rests on a solid piece of laser-cut clear acrylic, the base board; finally, a piece of thin laser-cut acrylic fits tightly around the CPU boards so that they cannot shift. The CPU boards are then maintained in place by many screws just adjacent to the CPU boards.