After some research, we recently purchased an Odroid U2 for the purpose of on-robot vision processing. Our intention is to connect a USB webcam to this board and have it continuously monitor the playing field and send relevant information to the cRIO for targeting purposes (similar to what many teams have done with this and other boards).
From what I understand, the basic steps are:
- Install an operating system
- Install OpenCV
- Write some vision analysis code
- Setup "network tables" and somehow get this information to the cRIO
There are a ton of questions that I could ask at this point, so maybe I'll just start at #1. What is the recommended operating system for an ARM board like this? It sounds like standard Ubuntu is out because it is x86 based. The people that make the Odroid are actively developing their own version of Ubuntu based on Linaro but that whole situation sounds like a bit of a mess. There is also an Android OS developed by the same people, and Cyanogen officially supports the Odroid U2. Arch Linux ARM has a version, and I'm sure there are others.
I was hoping there would be a straightforward solution but it appears there are just a lot of options, each with pros and cons. The Ethernet and webcam requirements make me think a desktop OS is better suited for this task, but the ARM chips and lightweight environment make me think something based on Android would be better.
Anyhow, I have lots to learn here. Can someone with experience with these boards recommend a good direction to being fumbling around in?