Re: (CIM) Wooden Block CIM whitepaper

Fun,

> PS. Didn't expect a response from you so fast. Thought you would be
> stuck at some boring seminar somewhere.

Well, I leave early Monday morning and I needed most of Sunday to pack
but I couldn't help taking periodic breaks to check the list. ;-). The
conference is JavaOne and it is an absolute rollercoaster ride to
attend. I am especially interested to see how NASA/JPL is migrating
to Java and RealTime Java because I would like to eventually leverage
RealTime Java in the CIM stuff we are talking about. I have followed
the development of RealTime Java since 1999 and it appears to be the
most advanced RealTime API on the planet. Here are links to the JPL
abstracts in case you want to take a peek:

http://servlet.java.sun.com/javaone/sf2003/conf/bofs/display-1217.en-61274.jsp

http://servlet.java.sun.com/javaone/sf2003/conf/bofs/display-1220.en-61275.jsp

> Would this mean that a new " -based" controller will have to be
> cooked up for this purpose, or perhaps Art or Dave will have to make
> their creations network-centric, or both?

Probably both. The way that API (Application Programmer's Interface)
development works in the Java world is that all competitors and
interested parties in a given area (including open source developers)
sit down together and develop an open API specification that anyone is
free to implement. The saying is "cooperate on the API specification,
compete on the implementations" and it seems to work very well.

Theoretically this philosophy should work in the CNC controller world too.

> Is this 1-up on DNC?

Its more like an order of magnitude up from DNC. I wish I were able
to convey all of the absolutely mind-blowing possibilities that these
new network-centric technologies are just now making available but it
definitely takes a while to get one's mind around it all.

I think that the paradigm shift is at least as great as the shift from
the horse to the automobile but in our case it is happening much
quicker. Another popular saying in the Java world is "The Network
*is* The Computer" but the implications of this are hard to grasp
until one sees it for themselves.

>
> > I have great respect for applications like Master5 and TurboCNC
> > because I found out what kind of heavy-duty programming is needed to
> > support multi-axis CNC controls when I wrote the software needed to
> > control a 12 axis stepper motor driven machine a few years ago.
>
> Does this mean we already have some software ready to snap into this
> CIM network?

The APIs are all just sitting there waiting for someone to build a
snapable CIM network out of them. The Computer Science powerhouse
architects and programmers have all but hemorrhaged themselves during
the past 10 years to bring these paradigm-shifting network-centric
technologies into the world and now they are just sitting there for
anyone to use.

The ironic thing is that almost none of these CS gurus have any idea
what CIM or CNCs, or even milling machines and lathes are and so they
are unaware that they have unknowingly provided the foundational
technologies needed to finally make inexpensive CIM a reality.

But to answer you question more directly, yes, the initial
snapable-software framework has been in development for the past 8
months or so and here it is:

embedlets.org

The main reason that I sought out this list is because I am one of the
Embedlets developers and this software now needs to be applied to some
real-world applications and what better incubator for this than CIM
and all it entails?

I have spent the last 10 years working to put myself in a position to
make a run at the Home Shop CIM concept and it looks like things will
finally start to fall into place this summer. I just purchased an XYZ
table off of EBay, servo motors, GeckoDrives, etc. and this machine's
purpose is to be a CIM concept test bed for the new Outpost units that
the Embedlets groups is in the process of designing.

Here is the table:

http://etwb.javadevices.org/misc/plasma1.jpg

Here are the initial embedded systems that will power the Outposts:

http://tstik.com

http://jstik.com

http://muvium.com

The Embedlets software is ready to enter the alpha stage and I have
the whole summer to devote to this project so I am hopeful that some
solid progress can be made on it.

Talk to you later,

Ted