Robotics Middleware: A Comprehensive Literature Survey and Attribute-Based Bibliography

Autonomous robots are complex systems that require the interaction between numerous heterogeneous components (software and hardware). Because of the increase in complexity of robotic applications and the diverse range of hardware, robotic middleware is designed to manage the complexity and heterogeneity of the hardware and applications, promote the integration of new technologies, simplify software design, hide the complexity of low-level communication and the sensor heterogeneity of the sensors, improve software quality, reuse robotic software infrastructure across multiple research efforts, and to reduce production costs. This paper presents a literature survey and attribute-based bibliography of the current state of the art in robotic middleware design. The main aim of the survey is to assist robotic middleware researchers in evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches and their appropriateness for their applications. Furthermore, we provide a comprehensive set of appropriate bibliographic references that are classified based on middleware attributes.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/95901

Robotics software frameworks for multi-agent robotic systems development

Robotics is an area of research in which the paradigm of Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) can prove to be highly useful. Multi-Agent Systems come in the form of cooperative robots in a team, sensor networks based on mobile robots, and robots in Intelligent Environments, to name but a few. However, the development of Multi-Agent Robotic Systems (MARS) still presents major challenges. Over the past decade, a high number of Robotics Software Frameworks (RSFs) have appeared which propose some solutions to the most recurrent problems in robotics. Some of these frameworks, such as ROS, YARP, OROCOS, ORCA, Open-RTM, and Open-RDK, possess certain characteristics and provide the basic infrastructure necessary for the development of MARS. The contribution of this work is the identification of such characteristics as well as the analysis of these frameworks in comparison with the general-purpose Multi-Agent System Frameworks (MASFs), such as JADE and Mobile-C.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TEC2009-10639-C04-02Junta de Andalucía P06-TIC-2298Junta de Andalucía P08-TIC-0386

A Multi-Vehicle Cooperative Localization Approach for an Autonomy Framework

Offensive techniques produced by technological advancement present opportunities for adversaries to threaten the operational advantages of our joint and allied forces. Combating these new methodologies requires continuous and rapid development towards our own set of \game-changing technologies. Through focused development of unmanned systems and autonomy, the Air Force can strive to maintain its technological superiority. Furthermore, creating a robust framework capable of testing and evaluating the principles that define autonomy allows for the exploration of future capabilities. This research presents development towards a hybrid reactive/deliberative architecture that will allow for the testing of the principles of task, cognitive, and peer flexibility. Specifically, this work explores peer flexibility in multi-robot systems to solve a localization problem using the Hybrid Architecture for Multiple Robots (HAMR) as a basis for the framework. To achieve this task a combination of vehicle perception and navigation tools formulate inferences on an operating environment. These inferences are then used for the construction of Factor Graphs upon which the core algorithm for localization implements iSAM2, a high performing incremental matrix factorization method. A key component for individual vehicle control within the framework is the Unified Behavior Framework (UBF), a behavior-based control architecture which uses modular arbitration techniques to generate actions that enable actuator control. Additionally, compartmentalization of a World Model is explored through the use of containers to minimize communication overhead and streamline state information. The design for this platform takes on a polymorphic approach for modularity and robustness enabling future development

On Software Quality-motivated Design of a Real-time Framework for Complex Robot Control Systems

Frameworks have fundamental impact on software quality of robot control systems. We propose systematic framework design aiming at high levels of support for all quality attributes that are relevant in the robotics domain. Design decisions are taken accordingly. We argue that certain areas of design are especially critical, as changing decisions there would likely require rewriting significant parts of the implementation. For these areas, quality-motivated solutions and benefits for actual applications are discussed. We illustrate and evaluate their implementations in our framework Finroc - after briefly introducing it. This includes a highly modular framework core and a well-performing, lock-free, zero-copying communication mechanism. Finroc is being used in complex and also in commercial robotic projects - which evinces that the approaches are suitable for real-world applications

A Component-Based Middleware for a Reliable Distributed and Reconfigurable Spacecraft Onboard Computer

Emerging applications for space missions require increasing processing performance from the onboard computers. DLR's project “Onboard Computer - Next Generation” (OBC-NG) develops a distributed, reconfigurable computer architecture to provide increased performance while maintaining the high reliability of classical spacecraft computer architectures. Growing system complexity requires an advanced onboard middleware, handling distributed (realtime) applications and error mitigation by reconfiguration. The OBC-NG middleware follows the Component-Based Software Engineering (CBSE) approach. Using composite components, applications and management tasks can easily be distributed and relocated on the processing nodes of the network. Additionally, reuse of components for future missions is facilitated. This paper presents the flexible middleware architecture, the composite component framework, the middleware services and the model-driven Application Programming Interface (API) design of OBC-NG. Tests are conducted to validate the middleware concept and to investigate the reconfiguration efficiency as well as the reliability of the system. A relevant use case shows the advantages of CBSE for the development of distributed reconfigurable onboard software

The ROS: Kinetic Kame for Humanoid Robot BarelangFC

A collaborative robot such as humanoid robot which able to play soccer consist tons of software framework such as servo controller, vision system, strategy receiver and transmitter, sensors, and coordination system. All these frameworks needed to be integrated to simplify the command of creating the complexity of the robot behaviors. To overcome these problems, the Robot Operating System (ROS) can be implemented on each robot. This paper presented the implementation of the ROS: Kinetic Kame in order to integrated the whole framework which is existed in the robot. To verify the performance of this system, some experiments has been done in real-time application. From the experimental results, the ROS: Kinetic Kame able to integrate each software framework of the robot in very good response.Sebuah robot kolaboratif seperti robot humanoid yang mampu bermain sepak bola terdiri dari banyak sekali framework software seperti servo controller, vision system, receiver and transmitter strategi, sensor, dan sistem koordinasi. Semua framework software ini perlu diintegrasikan untuk menyederhanakan perintah dalam menciptakan kompleksitas robot behaviour. Untuk mengatasi permasalahan tersebut, maka Robot Operating System (ROS) dapat diimplementasikan pada setiap robot. Makalah ini memaparkan implementasi ROS: Kinetic Kame untuk mengintegrasikan seluruh framework yang ada pada robot. Untuk memverifikasi kinerja sistem ini, beberapa percobaan telah dilakukan dalam aplikasi real-time. Dari hasil percobaan, ROS: Kinetic Kame mampu mengintegrasikan setiap framework software robot dengan respon yang sangat bai

Modelling field robot software using AADL

This report contains a technical description and example on how robotic systems based on a distributed communication middleware can be modelled in AADL, incorporating hardware aspects. Furthermore analyses on the extra-functional properties such as bus-bandwidth and end-to-end latency are performed

State-based Safety of Component-based Medical and Surgical Robot Systems

Safety has not received sufficient attention in the medical robotics community despite a consensus of its paramount importance and the pioneering work in the early 90s. Partly because of its emergent and non-functional characteristics, it is challenging to capture and represent the design of safety features in a consistent, structured manner. In addition, significant engineering efforts are required in practice when designing and developing medical robot systems with safety. Still, academic researchers in medical robotics have to deal with safety to perform clinical studies. This dissertation presents the concept, model and architecture to reformulate safety as a visible, reusable, and verifiable property, rather than an embedded, hard-to-reuse, and hard-to-test property that is tightly coupled with the system. The concept enables reuse and structured understanding of the design of safety features, and the model allows the system designers to explicitly define and capture the run-time status of component-based systems with support for error propagation. The architecture leverages the benefits of the concept and the model by decomposing safety features into reusable mechanisms and configurable specifications. We show the concept and feasibility of the proposed methods by building an open source framework that aims to facilitate research and development of safety systems of medical robots. Using the cisst component-based framework, we empirically evaluate the proposed methods by applying the developed framework to two research systems -- one based on a commercial robot system for orthopedic surgery and another robot soon to be clinically applied for manipulation of flexible endoscopes

Axon: A Middleware for Robotics

The area of multi-robot systems and frameworks has become, in recent years, a hot research area in the field of robotics. This is attributed to the great advances made in robotic hardware, software, and the diversity of robotic systems. The need to integrate different heterogeneous robotic components and systems has led to the birth of robotic middleware. A robotic middleware is an intricate piece of software that masks the heterogeneity of underlying components and provides high-level interfaces that enable developers to make efficient use of the components. A large number of robotic middleware programs exist today. Each one comes with its own design methodologies and complexities. Up to this moment, however, there exists no unified standard for robotic middleware. Moreover, many of the middleware in use today deal with low-level and hardware aspects. This adds unnecessary complexity in research involving robotic behavior, inter-robot collaboration, and other high-level experiments which do not require prior knowledge of low-level details. In addition, the notion of structured lightweight data transfer between robots is not emphasized in existing work. This dissertation tackles the robotic middleware problem from a different perspective. The aim of this work is to develop a robust middleware that is able to handle multiple robots and clients within a laboratory environment. In the proposed middleware, a high-level representation of robots in an environment is introduced. Also, this work introduces the notion of structured and efficient data exchange as an important issue in robotic middleware research. The middleware has been designed and developed using rigorous methodologies and leading edge technologies. Moreover, the middleware’s ability to integrate different types of robots in a seamless manner, as well as its ability to accommodate multiple robots and clients, has been tested and evaluated

Scheduling Problems

Scheduling is defined as the process of assigning operations to resources over time to optimize a criterion. Problems with scheduling comprise both a set of resources and a set of a consumers. As such, managing scheduling problems involves managing the use of resources by several consumers. This book presents some new applications and trends related to task and data scheduling. In particular, chapters focus on data science, big data, high-performance computing, and Cloud computing environments. In addition, this book presents novel algorithms and literature reviews that will guide current and new researchers who work with load balancing, scheduling, and allocation problems