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Building an Embedded GPU Computer for Man-Portable Robots
Overview
Graphics processor units, or GPUs, are quickly growing in popularity as a high speed solution to solving a bevy of parallelizeable problems. The graphics card, which contains the GPU along with Video RAM and other electrical components, has for many years been strictly a computer gaming commodity. It wasn’t until recently that their immense computational power has been harnessed for non-rendering tasks. The benefits of the GPU come with a large cost - a heavy electrical load. For RHex and other small robots, it is too much of a burden to support a physically cumbersome hundred watt-plus processor along with a CPU capable of controlling it. The challenge is to build a system which provides the benefits of the GPU without the massive power drain and heat dissipation requirements.
External Links to GPU Programming Resources
Copyright Kodlab, 2009