Abstract
In general, we face recurrently some common problems when programming robotic systems: multithreading and multiprocessing, distributed computing, hardware abstraction, hardware and software integration, multiple levels of abstraction and control, the development of a programming tool for a group of users which may become wide and diverse, etc. In this document we will introduce CoolBOT, a component oriented programming framework implementing primitives and mechanisms aimed to support the resolution of some of these common problems. This framework allows building systems by integrating “off-the-shelf” software components following a port automata model [SVK97] that fosters controllability and observability. Next section, Section 2, will introduce some of the recurrent problems we can find when developing the software infrastructure aimed to control a robotic system. In Section 3 we introduce a component oriented programming framework for programming robotic systems called CoolBOT which is the main subject of this chapter. In Section 4 we will outline the use of CoolBOT for building a real example. Finally in Section 5 we outline some of the conclusions we have drawn along the way of building and using CoolBOT.
This work has been supported by research projects PI2003/160 and PI2003/165 funded by the Autonomous Government of Canary Islands (Gobierno de Canarias - Consejera de Educacin, Cultura y Deportes, Spain), by the MEC (Ministerio de Educacin y Ciencia, Spain) and FEDER research project TIN2004-07087, and by the ULPGC research projects UNI2004/11, UNI2004/25 and UNI2005/18.
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Domínguez-Brito, A.C., Hernández-Sosa, D., Isern-González, J., Cabrera-Gámez, J. (2007). CoolBOT: A Component Model and Software Infrastructure for Robotics. In: Brugali, D. (eds) Software Engineering for Experimental Robotics. Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, vol 30. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68951-5_9
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