Programming an OS

I am just about to commence my master's project in systems engineering. This has to be a group project and a number of projects are put forward by our uni department. It looks like myself and 4 other people (needs to be 4) have made a group and are going to take on the project of building a robot with intelligent guidance (can avoid obstacles etc.) and a robotic limb. This robot will obviously be self-powered and contain it's own operating system. I was hoping to be responsible for the motion tracking and proximity detection area but I was asked this evening (due to the fact that I have a far greater interest in programming) if I would mind creating the robot's OS.

I have quite a lot of knowledge about C++ (and more by the end of this year due to my options) and a little about asm (I programmed an 8051 last year).

My question goes to those who have programmed an OS or know how to:

In 8 months, if I was willing to work my butt off, research like crazy and given what I know now, could I program an adequate OS or should we just go with windows and let me carry on with my original plans?

I would be grateful for any response.

For a robot controller, 8 months should be more than enough to write, debug, and polish an operating system. Unless you want the full features of a mainstream operating system like Unix or Windows of course. :rolleyes:

-Prelude

No, a simple control system will suffice. I mean by that a system facilitating power, movement and perception.

u mean like grace.

www.cs.cmu.edu/~pearl

Minesweeper what college are you in??? I want to take Grad courses in Software Engineering (or computer science, seeing as how they are almost the same majors).

I am at Brunel University in London.

Well, though I am quite daunted by the idea of writing an OS from scratch I have been thinking about it and will probably take up the challenge at our group meeting tomorrow. Wish me luck!!

Oh and a bit of help from time to time wouldn't go a miss!! Thanks!!