Beobot Coding Environment

Operating System

The Beobot run on a standard Linux operating system that fits into the 256MB flash memory. Development of Beobot software will also be in Linux. Currently the iLab uses the Mandrake version of Linux.

Programming

All of iLab's classes are coded in object-oriented C++, and compiled using GNU C++ compiler.

Maintaing Version Concurrency

To make sure everyone is on the same page, we use the SVN system. This prevents researchers from accessing outdated code and allows everyone to keep track of the latest updates and documentations.

Drivers and Interfaces

A lot of the hardware devices in Beobot are not supported under the current version of Mandrake. So iLab wrote several drivers such as one for the Firewire Camera. Also, devices like the Serial Servo Controller and LCD operate on ASCII serial inputs. iLab created SSC and LCD classes that sends signals to those devices.