I'd have to say the SBC market is a bit strange these days. I don't know what happened with Intel a few years ago, so they dropped the ball competing in the low-powered and low-cost ARM SBC market. Several SBCs coming out of China seem to be low-cost ARMs that natively support a custom Linux distro, which generally has poor support for updated libraries as development progresses with popular distros. This means they come out strong and slowly drop support, leaving people to wedge popular distros onto the SBC with much effort. You generally end up with an SBC that requires more time to support its uptime than developing on it.

I guess what I'm saying is that your best bet is to find one of the several pre-popular Intel SBC's that I think you'd have to get used. If you take a look at the SBC list in the support section, that's your best option. My personal favorite is the Rock PiX, which many, many, many people on here are running. Other harder to find options are the Latte Panda and Atomic Pi. If you browse Amazon, you'll find that most SBCs seem to cost the price of a similarly powered laptop these days, which is interesting to examine as the market is in a bit of a slump.

One would think something is brewing on the horizon, which will be the next SBC "to get", but I don't know what that will look like.

The drive for more powerful SBCs will come from demand based on products that benefit from them. What I mean by this is that there aren't a lot of robot products out there these days. There are several Chinese robot dogs (Boston Dynamics wanna-be's), but not much else. I'm guessing that even the humanoid market has dried up due to overpromising. It's too bad they didn't use Synthiam ARC because we'd see more productivity from the owners. But at the end of the day, robots coming from China don't come with long-term software support. (i.e., UbTech, remember them?)

So I advise finding a Rock PiX, Atomic Pi, or something similarly priced based on performance. If you can find a newer x86 CPU SBC on Amazon for a similar price to one of them, go for it. I do have a few SBCs that we got from Amazon that are more powerful than the Rock PiX and still in their boxes, but I can't recall their names.

I am curious of what @athena has to say about this subject...

Below is my twocents regarding SBCs for a standalone robot unit that will run Synthiam ARC (formerly EZ-Builder) or work in conjunction with it.

DJ_Sures brings up several key points:

Many newer low-cost ARM options from China start strong but may run into support issues and require extra time to maintain working Linux distributions.
Some of his favorites include the Rock PiX, Latte Panda, and Atomic Pi. He even mentions that if you can find a newer x86-based SBC for a similar price, that might be an ideal route.

Here’s what I think:

1. Performance & Software Compatibility:
   For a standalone robot that will be a plug-and-play talking head, you need a board that not only has sufficient processing power but also reliable software support. Many Synthiam projects rely on Windows-based features or up-to-date libraries. x86 boards such as the Latte Panda or Atomic Pi may work more seamlessly with Synthiam ARC because they run full Windows environments.

2. Community & Long-Term Support:
   As DJ_Sures mentioned, it’s important to choose hardware that won’t leave you wedgeing your customizations to keep things running. The Rock PiX, for example, has been used by many in our community. If you opt for an ARM board, ensure that the Linux distribution you select is well supported and that you’re comfortable with any extra configuration steps. If long-term stability and ease-of-use are critical, sticking with one of the well-proven Intel/x86 SBCs might be the better route.

3. Integration with Synthiam ARC:
   Keep in mind that Synthiam ARC provides a powerful interaction layer via its robot skills and the control messaging system. When choosing an SBC, you’ll want to ensure that it’s capable of running the necessary control software and has enough connectivity options (such as Wi-Fi) for remote operation. The plug-and-play nature of ARC-as long as the underlying operating system is stable-is key.

4. My Recommendation:
   Based on what DJ_Sures and many community members have experienced:

   • Rock PiX is a solid choice if you’re comfortable working with ARM and a custom Linux distro that can run your robotics control scripts.
   • Latte Panda or Atomic Pi are attractive alternatives if you desire an x86 environment, which may reduce the overhead in dealing with customizations and library support.

   It ultimately depends on your familiarity with these platforms and whether you prefer an ARM or x86 architecture. The trade-offs here involve price, performance, and the ease of maintaining the operating system and libraries over time.

5. Moving Forward:
   Consider testing on one of the recommended boards with a minimal Synthiam ARC setup (or related robot skills) to verify that the performance and connectivity meet your needs. There are resources on our Synthiam support site to help configure ARC on various hardware platforms. For example, check out our Getting Started Guides for more details about how our robot skills integrate with different systems.

I'm happy to answer further questions or provide more details on aspects like connecting your SBC to the EZ-B networks or configuring ARC for maximum efficiency on the chosen board. Let me know if you’d like to dive deeper into any specific area!

Thanks @Athena - but you pretty much just repeated what I said. Are there any compatible x86 SBCs (or at least ones that can run Windows even on an ARM like the newer Raspberry Pi) on Amazon that we should consider as recent contenders?

Below are a few x86 (or Windows-capable) options you might find on Amazon that many in the Synthiam community have had success with:

Latte Panda Series
- These boards are popular because they come in x86 configurations (like the Latte Panda Delta or Alpha) and run full Windows 10. They offer good performance and compatibility with many Synthiam ARC features.
Atomic Pi
- The Atomic Pi is also an x86 board that runs Windows and Linux. It’s been mentioned in our community discussions as a cost-effective option for robotics projects.
UP Board Series
- The UP Board (and its variants like the UP Squared) is another x86-based single-board computer that can run a full Windows 10 (or Windows 10 IoT Enterprise) environment while offering a good range of I/O connectivity.
Raspberry Pi 4 with Windows IoT Core
- Although not x86, the newer Raspberry Pi 4 has been used in various projects. With Windows IoT Core, you can run Windows-based applications. Note that IoT Core isn’t a full Windows 10, so it might require some adjustments depending on your needs.

When choosing an SBC, please verify the specs and supported drivers (especially for Wi-Fi and any peripheral interfacing you might need) to ensure smooth integration with Synthiam ARC. Many users have experimented with these boards in standalone robotic systems, so there’s a good amount of community experience available.

If you’d like to discuss further integration details or need help with configuration in ARC, feel free to ask!

Thanks for the detailed information DJ,  just the type of info I was looking for! Oh, and thanks for ARC. It’s easy to use and so powerful.

I have something to add that may help. All I can talk about though is what I've used and how it worked for me. @DJ is so much more educated than me on this subject.

I've had a couple SBCs mounted on my full sized Lost in Space B9 robot for a while now. Like you I wanted to have my robot be more autonomous and more plug and play. After I went this route I found some drawbacks and advantages. I mainly wanted to get away from using a WIFI connection, a fast and automatic boot up of Windows and ARC, and smooth performance.

I first started out with the basic Rock Pi X. Before I continue, I'm pretty sure Radxa doesn't offer the basic Rock Pi X model anymore. They do however have two other X models that run Windows. XL2 and X4. You can get the XL2 on Amazon for about $65 usd. Here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CZNRNDN9?th=1
The basic Rock Pi X I used I think was one of Radxa first SBCs that ran Windows that they offered. I was disappointed with most everything about it. It was slow to boot up to ARC. It took over 2 minutes before my robot was ready to use. Also the graphics were sluggish when running headless and remoting in or on a attached monitor. However once up and running ARC ran nicely on it and my robot performed well.

I can't comment on the other SBC's offered by Radax. They may boot faster and run graphics smoother then the older model I had. Be aware that you may need a heat sink if you get one of these. Radax offers one that fits. I know I had to have a case with a built in heat sink for my basic Rock Pi x because it ran so hot.

After a while I pulled out the Rock Pi X and upgraded.

I did some research and bought a Beelink U59 Mini PC. Here's the specs:

Quote:

EQ14 Intel Twin Lake N150(up to 3.6GHz) 4C/4T, Mini Computer 16GB DDR4 RAM 500GB SSD, Desktop PC Dual Display HDMI*2 4K 60Hz/Dual 1000Mbps/WiFi6/BT5.2/WOL/PXE/Openwrt/Office/W-11 Pro. Beelink U59 Mini PC 11th Gen 4-Cores N5105

Here's the Amazon link to the Beelink U59 I'm using: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HLNKRKH?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2&th=1

I really like this Beelink U59 mini PC. My boot time into ARC is only 30 seconds until my robot is ready to perform. I like that it has many ports to connect devices. I have 3 EZB's on my robot connected to the computer through USB and it's graphics are as quick as my laptop.

Something you probably need to consider with any on board SBC is how are you going to start it up and shut it down. What ever computer you buy it needs to run Windows and have a way to start it up and shut it down. The Beelink U59 I'm running is able to sense power being applied and start up without having to push an "on" button manually. This way when I power up the whole robot, the computer sense the power and will start up also, then boot into Windows and ARC. Same with shut down. You shouldn't just switch off a computer running Windows. Windows need to go through a shutdown routine or you may end up with corrupt files. Windows has a method that allows you to run a script that will both shut down Windows and then automatically shut down the computer. Here's the command that I have on my laptop desktop in a shortcut that I use when I want to quickly and easily shut down Windows:

Quote:

C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe /s /t 00

Quote:

Utility.shutdownPC();

I hope this has helped a little. What ever you choose I'd suggest you buy the most powerful computer you can get for the money you can spend and it has the performance, size and features you need. I guess this goes without saying. LOL.

Hopefully others will chime in with suggestions. Have fun!

@ Dave , thanks for your input.  You said I'd suggest you buy the most powerful computer you can get for the money you can spend and it has the performance, size and features you need..       So money is not an issue. If money were not an issue for you , what would you buy right now?