Quote:
Originally Posted by BradAMiller
We implemented a user watchdog timer that is enabled by default (but can be disabled) and will automatically stop the motors if your program doesn't periodically call a method.
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Brad,
Isn't a hardware watchdog being used? If the processor completely locks up, does PWM generation stop, or does the PWM hardware continue to run with the last value given?
How can the system be considered absolutely safe if it is still possible for the motors to run while user processes are stopped at a breakpoint (I assume the processor is still running since I presume that a run-mode debugger is being used)? With the IFI system, if the user processor stopped updating the master for any reason the motors were shut down. Personally I think this is the only safe way to implement a "robot disable" function.
I guess I'm trying to find out how the "robot disable" function is actually implemented in the new system. I.e. what hardware is generating the PWM signal, and what conditions cause that hardware to stop generating and therefore shut down the motors? Is that hardware being updated by some sort of system (non-user modifiable) task?