Lotz, Alex (University of Applied Sciences Ulm), Steck, Andreas (University of Applied Sciences Ulm), Schlegel, Christian (University of Applied Sciences Ulm)

Runtime Monitoring of Robotics Software Components: Increasing Robustness of Service Robotic Systems

Scheduled for presentation during the Interactive Session "Autonomous Robots (Interactive II)" (TuII2), Tuesday, June 21, 2011, 18:30−21:30, TUT Library

The 15th International Conference on Advanced Robotics, June 20-23, 2011, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia

This information is tentative and subject to change. Compiled on September 20, 2020

Abstract

Component Based Software Engineering is a common approach to master complexity in service robotic systems. Moreover, these systems must be robust and safe. Common robotic middlewares and frameworks provide component models with well defined communication mechanisms. However, generic means are missing to gain insight into running components. Components must be monitored (i) during their development for debugging purposes, (ii) during their integration into a system for verification and error detection purposes and (iii) at runtime for administration and online diagnosis purposes.

This paper presents a generic concept for runtime monitoring of robotics software components which is independent of any specific robotic middleware and framework. After that, a reference implementation shows a concrete integration of the concept into the S MART S OFT component model. Two real world scenarios at the end demonstrate the usage of monitoring.