The PneumaticBox is a control system developed to enable fast, realtime control of pneumatic systems. Most commercially available solutions are developed for relatively slow process control scenarios, where being a few milliseconds off isn't a problem. Additionally, pneumatics control traditionally is done open-loop and available solutions do not provide for incorporating rich, real-time sensor feedback. The latter especially is a requirement specific to robotics.
System Overview
The PneumaticBox is a solution that is openly developed and places its focus on easy and rapid integration into robotic systems:
Hardware Stack
The PneumaticBox hardware consists of three components:
Software Stack
The Software stack is based on a Ubuntu distribution customized for the Beaglebone Black board and provides a complete Linux with the ability to run ROS nodes and time synchronization for timely event execution.
Additionally, the stack contains:
Software repositories:
Airserver (runs on the BeagleBoneBlack)
Python library for clients (runs on the client computer)
If you are interested in our PneumaticBox CAPE or are looking for a do-it-yourself solution for controlling a number of electromechanically actuated valves, you are welcome to reproduce our PneumaticBox CAPE!
We are publishing the production data (Gerber Files, Drill Files, Bill of Materials as well as Schematics and PCB as PDF-Files) for easy reproduction of our system.
The data is provided as-is and we do not offer any support.