Modeling of motion primitive architectures using domain-specific languages

Nordmann A. Modeling of motion primitive architectures using domain-specific languages. Bielefeld: Universität Bielefeld; 2016

Software Abstractions for Simulation and Control of a Continuum Robot

Nordmann A, Rolf M, Wrede S. Software Abstractions for Simulation and Control of a Continuum Robot. In: SIMPAR2012 - SIMULATION, MODELING, and PROGRAMMING for AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS. 2012

A User Study for Evaluation of Formal Verification Results and their Explanation at Bosch

Context: Ensuring safety for any sophisticated system is getting more complex due to the rising number of features and functionalities. This calls for formal methods to entrust confidence in such systems. Nevertheless, using formal methods in industry is demanding because of their lack of usability and the difficulty of understanding verification results. Objective: We evaluate the acceptance of formal methods by Bosch automotive engineers, particularly whether the difficulty of understanding verification results can be reduced. Method: We perform two different exploratory studies. First, we conduct a user survey to explore challenges in identifying inconsistent specifications and using formal methods by Bosch automotive engineers. Second, we perform a one-group pretest-posttest experiment to collect impressions from Bosch engineers familiar with formal methods to evaluate whether understanding verification results is simplified by our counterexample explanation approach. Results: The results from the user survey indicate that identifying refinement inconsistencies, understanding formal notations, and interpreting verification results are challenging. Nevertheless, engineers are still interested in using formal methods in real-world development processes because it could reduce the manual effort for verification. Additionally, they also believe formal methods could make the system safer. Furthermore, the one-group pretest-posttest experiment results indicate that engineers are more comfortable understanding the counterexample explanation than the raw model checker output. Limitations: The main limitation of this study is the generalizability beyond the target group of Bosch automotive engineers.Comment: This manuscript is under review with the Empirical Software Engineering journa

A Survey on Domain-Specific Languages in Robotics

Nordmann A, Hochgeschwender N, Wrede S. A Survey on Domain-Specific Languages in Robotics. In: International Conference on Simulation, Modeling, and Programming for Autonomous Robots. 2014.The design, simulation and programming of robotics systems is challenging as expertise from multiple domains needs to be integrated conceptually and technically. Domain-specific modeling promises an efficient and flexible concept for developing robotics applications that copes with this challenge. It allows to raise the level of abstraction through the use of specific concepts that are closer to the respective domain concerns and easier to understand and validate. Furthermore, it focuses on increasing the level of automation, e.g. through code generation, to bridge the gap between the modeling and the implementation levels and to improve the efficiency and quality of the software development process. Within this contribution, we survey the literature available on domain-specific (modeling) languages in robotics required to realize a state-of-the-art real-world example from the RoboCup@Work competition. We classify 41 publications in the field as reference for potential DSL users. Furthermore, we analyze these contributions from a DSL-engineering viewpoint and discuss quantitative and qualitative aspects such as the methods and tools used for DSL implementation as well as their documentation status and platform integration. Finally, we conclude with some recommendations for discussion in the robotics programming and simulation community based on the insights gained with this survey

Modeling of Movement Control Architectures based on Motion Primitives using Domain-Specific Languages

Nordmann A, Wrede S, Steil JJ. Modeling of Movement Control Architectures based on Motion Primitives using Domain-Specific Languages. Presented at the Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation

Industry Best Practices in Robotics Software Engineering

Robotics software is pushing the limits of software engineering practice. The 3rd International Workshop on Robotics Software Engineering held a panel on "the best practices for robotic software engineering". This article shares the key takeaways that emerged from the discussion among the panelists and the workshop, ranging from architecting practices at the NASA/Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory, model-driven development at Bosch, development and testing of autonomous driving systems at Waymo, and testing of robotics software at XITASO. Researchers and practitioners can build on the contents of this paper to gain a fresh perspective on their activities and focus on the most pressing practices and challenges in developing robotics software today.Comment: 10 pages, 0 figure

A Survey on Domain-Specific Modeling and Languages in Robotics

Nordmann A, Hochgeschwender N, Wigand DL, Wrede S. A Survey on Domain-Specific Modeling and Languages in Robotics. Journal of Software Engineering in Robotics. 2016;7(1):75-99

The Cognitive Interaction Toolkit – Improving Reproducibility of Robotic Systems Experiments (POSTER)

Lier F, Wienke J, Nordmann A, Wachsmuth S, Wrede S. The Cognitive Interaction Toolkit – Improving Reproducibility of Robotic Systems Experiments (POSTER). Presented at the International Conference on Simulation, Modeling, and Programming for Autonomous Robots (SIMPAR), Bergamo, Italy