Stage 00 · Robotics Orientation · Lesson 5 · 40–55 min
The Robot Brain
People say “robot brain”, but in the lab you choose a controller based on very practical questions: How many pins do I need? How fast and how regularly must my loop run? Do I need a camera, Wi-Fi or Linux? Choosing wrong means jittery servos, missed sensor readings, or a board that simply can’t run your software.
Real-time does not mean “very fast”. It means on time, every time. A loop that runs exactly every 20 ms is real-time; one that is usually 5 ms but sometimes 200 ms is not, even though it is faster on average.