roboshape-codegen

This is the hardware code generator associated with our paper "RoboShape: Using Topology Patterns to Scalably and Flexibly Deploy Accelerators Across Robots" from ISCA 2023.

@inproceedings{10.1145/3579371.3589104,
author = {Neuman, Sabrina M. and Ghosal, Radhika and Bourgeat, Thomas and Plancher, Brian and Reddi, Vijay Janapa},
title = {RoboShape: Using Topology Patterns to Scalably and Flexibly Deploy Accelerators Across Robots},
year = {2023},
isbn = {9798400700958},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3579371.3589104},
doi = {10.1145/3579371.3589104},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 50th Annual International Symposium on Computer Architecture},
articleno = {69},
numpages = {13},
location = {Orlando, FL, USA},
series = {ISCA '23}
}

Updated 06/19/2023:

The README below is outdated from a previous internal version, but will be updated with build and simulation instructions in the next few days! Meanwhile, feel free to browse our Python scripts for generating the Verilog code for the dynamics gradient accelerator in generators/.

---

Accelerator generation

Helper script workflow

# these should be put in a source script
# RBD_BASE and AUTOMATION_PREFIX will be different for you
export RBD_BASE=/home/radhika/robomorphic_stuff/rbd-accelerator
export AUTOMATION_PREFIX=/home/radhika/robomorphic_stuff/robomorphic-automation/scripts
export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:$AUTOMATION_PREFIX

For running the entire flow:

$ cd build_scripts
$ make generate # generate all the verilog/bluespec from the py files
$ make push # push the generated files to rbd-accelerator repo
$ make build_rbd # builds the accelerator using the verilator target
$ make run_rbd # uses verilator to simulate the output

Haven't tested make build_rbd and make run_rbd using vivado.

---

0. Write the Python file for generating its corresponding Bluespec/Verilog output.
   • Put the .py file in the correct directory in generators, relative to its location in the rbd-accelerator repo.
   • eg: fproc.py goes in generators/hdl/verilog/rev2/fproc.
1. $ ./generate_file.sh ./generators/[path to py file]
   • eg: ./generate_file.sh ./generators/hdl/verilog/rev2/fproc/fproc.py
   • This will generate fproc.v and send it to build/hdl/verilog/rev2/fproc.
2. $ ./hacky_ci_push.sh ./build/hdl/verilog/rev2/fproc/fproc.v
   • This will send fproc.v to <rbd-accelerator repo>/hdl/verilog/rev2/fproc/fproc.v
   • Also creates an fproc.v.backup from original rbd-accel HEAD in the same directory if you need it for reference.
   • Then kicks off a new verilator build and runs the simulation.
3. $ ./hacky_ci_revert.sh ./build/hdl/verilog/rev2/fproc/fproc.v
   • This will restore fproc.v in rbd-accelerator back to its original handwritten version from git head.
4. $ ./hacky_ci_revert.sh all
   • This will restore the entire rbd-accelerator back to git head and remove all the backup files. Use with care, it will erase any uncommitted changes in the repo.