ROS-based Solution for Robotic Services in Cloud Computing

Robot Operating System (ROS) is becoming a widely-used environment for devel- oping robot software systems. It provides unique features such as message-passing between processes and code reuse between robots. The new trend in ROS-based robotic systems is facing the development and delivery of effective services by com- bining the advantages of both cloud robotics and web services. Cloud robotics is the way that allows robots to overcome their limitations of pro- cessing and knowledge by boosting computational and cognitive capabilities. On the other hand, as an implementation of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), web Services allow mainly different ROS codes to be discovered over the internet for their reuse. However, the characterization, description, and discovery of the ROS service capability for the offered robotic functionality are still issues that are not fully ad- dressed. In this context, we focus in this thesis on developing an architecture for roboti software provisioning to both software developers and robots by exploiting the op- portunities of ROS, web services, and cloud robotics. We propose a complete SOA approach for cloud robotics, in which ROS-based robotic tasks are defined as web services. The approach focuses on defining the service cycle process of describing, discovering, and selecting services. Two characterizations for ROS web services are proposed. The service characterizations describe the semantic representation of the robot task from ROS itself. In each case, we present a strategy that allows users todiscover the relevant robotic service that can match their queries and robots

QoS-aware architectures, technologies, and middleware for the cloud continuum

The recent trend of moving Cloud Computing capabilities to the Edge of the network is reshaping how applications and their middleware supports are designed, deployed, and operated. This new model envisions a continuum of virtual resources between the traditional cloud and the network edge, which is potentially more suitable to meet the heterogeneous Quality of Service (QoS) requirements of diverse application domains and next-generation applications. Several classes of advanced Internet of Things (IoT) applications, e.g., in the industrial manufacturing domain, are expected to serve a wide range of applications with heterogeneous QoS requirements and call for QoS management systems to guarantee/control performance indicators, even in the presence of real-world factors such as limited bandwidth and concurrent virtual resource utilization. The present dissertation proposes a comprehensive QoS-aware architecture that addresses the challenges of integrating cloud infrastructure with edge nodes in IoT applications. The architecture provides end-to-end QoS support by incorporating several components for managing physical and virtual resources. The proposed architecture features: i) a multilevel middleware for resolving the convergence between Operational Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT), ii) an end-to-end QoS management approach compliant with the Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) standard, iii) new approaches for virtualized network environments, such as running TSN-based applications under Ultra-low Latency (ULL) constraints in virtual and 5G environments, and iv) an accelerated and deterministic container overlay network architecture. Additionally, the QoS-aware architecture includes two novel middlewares: i) a middleware that transparently integrates multiple acceleration technologies in heterogeneous Edge contexts and ii) a QoS-aware middleware for Serverless platforms that leverages coordination of various QoS mechanisms and virtualized Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) invocation stack to manage end-to-end QoS metrics. Finally, all architecture components were tested and evaluated by leveraging realistic testbeds, demonstrating the efficacy of the proposed solutions

SDfR protocol : Service Discovery for Robots

National audienceNowadays robotic applications tend towards fleets of robots, be-ing capable of sharing information between multiple hosts as well as performing one or multiple tasks together. In order to facili-tate interaction and cooperation robots should advertise about their functionalities as services. In this paper, we propose a protocol for highly dynamic robotic applications that will allow robots to discover their neighbors services and their capabilities in any wire-less infrastructure. The protocol is an adaptation of the Service Discovery Protocol (SDP) used in Universal Plug and Play(UPnP). The paper also includes a series of benchmarking across multiple scenarios that allow us to evaluate our protocol. Our experiments looked up the various impacts that our proposal has on a multi-robot system, like request time of a publisher and a subscriber, the quan-tity of CPU and memory used and quantity of send and received bytes over the network

SDfR -Service discovery for multi-robot systems

International audienceMulti-robots systems require dedicated tools and models for their design and the deployment. Our approach proposes service-oriented architecture that can simplify the development and deployment. In order to solve the problem of neighbors and service discovery in an ad-hoc network, the fleet robot needs a protocol that is able to constantly discover new robots in its coverage area. To this end we propose a robotic middleware, SDfR, that is able to provide service discovery. This protocol is an extension of the Simple Service Discovery Protocol (SSDP) used in Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) used in dynamic networks generated by the mobility of the robots. Even if SDfR is platform independent, we propose a ROS (ROS, 2014) integration in order to facilitate the use. We evaluate a series of overhead benchmarking across static and dynamic scenarios. We also present some use-cases where our proposal was successfully used

Intergicielles et modèles de programmation pour les systèmes multi-robots

Despite many years of work in robotics, there is still a lack of established software architecture and middleware for multi-robot systems. A robotic middleware should be designed to abstract the low-level hardware architecture, facilitate communication and integration of new software. This PhD thesis is focusing on middleware for multi-robot system and how we can improve existing frameworks for fleet purposes by adding multi-robot coordination services, development and massive deployment tools. We expect robots to be increasingly useful as they can take advantage of data pushed from other external devices in their decision making instead of just reacting to their local environment (sensors, cooperating robots in a fleet, etc). This thesis first evaluates one of the most recent middleware for mobile robot(s), Robot operating system (ROS) and continues with a state of the art about the commonly used middlewares in robotics. Based on the conclusions, we propose an original contribution in the multi-robot context, called SDfR (Service discovery for Robots), a service discovery mechanism for Robots. The main goal is to propose a mechanism that allows highly mobile robots to keep track of the reachable peers inside a fleet while using an ad-hoc infrastructure. Another objective is to propose a network configuration negotiation protocol. Due to the mobility of robots, classical peer to peer network configuration techniques are not suitable. SDfR is a highly dynamic, adaptive and scalable protocol adapted from Simple Service Discovery Protocol (SSDP). We conduced a set of experiments, using a fleet of Turtlebot robots, to measure and show that the overhead of SDfR is limited. The last part of the thesis focuses on programming model based on timed automata. This type of programming has the benefits of having a model that can be verified and simulated before deploying the application on real robots. In order to enrich and facilitate the development of robotic applications, a new programming model based on timed automata state machines is proposed, called ROSMDB (Robot Operating system Model Driven Behaviour). It provides model checking at development phase and at runtime. This contribution is composed of several components: a graphical interface to create models based on timed automata, an integrated model checker based on UPPAAL and a code skeleton generator. Moreover, a ROS specific framework is proposed to verify the correctness of the execution of the models and to trigger alerts. Finally, we conduct two experiments: one with a fleet of Parrot drones and second with Turtlebots in order to illustrates the proposed model and its ability to check properties.Malgré de nombreuses années de travail en robotique, il existe toujours un manque d’architecture logicielle et de middleware stables pour les systèmes multi-robot. Un intergiciel robotique devrait être conçu pour faire abstraction de l’architecture matérielle de bas niveau, faciliter la communication et l’intégration de nouveaux logiciels. Cette thèse se concentre sur le middleware pour systèmes multi-robot et sur la façon dont nous pouvons améliorer les frameworks existantes dans un contexte multi-robot en ajoutant des services de coordination multi-robot, des outils de développement et de déploiement massif. Nous nous attendons à ce que les robots soient de plus en plus utiles car ils peuvent tirer profit des données provenant d’autres périphériques externes dans leur prise de décision au lieu de simplement réagir à leur environnement local (capteurs, robots coopérant dans une flotte, etc.). Cette thèse évalue d’abord l’un des intergiciels les plus récents pour robot(s) mobile(s), Robot operating system (ROS), suivi par la suite d’un état de l’art sur les middlewares couramment utilisés en robotique. Basé sur les conclusions, nous proposons une contribution originale dans le contexte multi-robots, appelé SDfR (Service discovery for Robots), un mécanisme de découverte des services pour les robots. L’objectif principal est de proposer un mécanisme permettant aux robots de garder une trace des pairs accessibles à l’intérieur d’une flotte tout en utilisant une infrastructure ad-hoc. A cause de la mobilité des robots, les techniques classiques de configuration de réseau pair à pair ne conviennent pas. SDfR est un protocole hautement dynamique, adaptatif et évolutif adapté du protocole SSDP (Simple Service Discovery Protocol). Nous conduisons un ensemble d’expériences, en utilisant une flotte de robots Turtlebot, pour mesurer et montrer que le surdébit de SDfR est limité. La dernière partie de la thèse se concentre sur un modèle de programmation basé sur un automate temporisé. Ce type de programmation a l’avantage d’avoir un modèle qui peut être vérifié et simulé avant de déployer l’application sur de vrais robots. Afin d’enrichir et de faciliter le développement d’applications robotiques, un nouveau modèle de programmation basé sur des automates à états temporisés est proposé, appelé ROSMDB (Robot Operating system Model Driven Behaviour). Il fournit une vérification de modèle lors de la phase de développement et lors de l’exécution. Cette contribution est composée de plusieurs composants : une interface graphique pour créer des modèles basés sur un automate temporisé, un vérificateur de modèle intégré basé sur UPPAAL et un générateur de squelette de code. Enfin, nous avons effectué deux expériences : une avec une flotte de drones Parrot et l’autre avec des Turtlebots afin d’illustre le modèle proposé et sa capacité à vérifier les propriétés