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ENERGY CONTROL AND SOFTWARE

Considerations

Most robot control system designers make an attempt to minimize power consumption
in the robot. This is true whether the robot is battery powered or not. If it is battery pow-
ered, then energy control is generally a critical part of the software design that must be
held in the forefront of all software design considerations. If software is written at first
without regard to energy control issues, it generally will need a rewrite. Even mundane
database and housekeeping software needs to be written with energy control in mind.
Crafting an energy control strategy is a fine art. It can be very difficult to scale back
the energy consumption of a robot and its computer. The finest designs use no extra
energy than is absolutely necessary. To accomplish this feat cleanly, project managers
and design engineers must pay attention to a few rules of thumb.

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