A java-based framework for the programming of distributed systems for mobile robots

Abstract

We propose a novel concept for the programming of distributed systems for mobile robots. A software architecture is presented that eases the development of applications for mobile robots. This software architecture is based upon the Roblet-Technology, which is a powerful medium for robots. It introduces the possibility to develop, compile and execute a distributed application on one workstation. The fundamental paradigm of the Roblet-Technology is the strong use of mobile code. Using mobile code an application distributes parts of itself through the network and builds up a distributed application. Since the Roblet-Technology uses Java the development is independent of the operation system. With the feature of running programs as a distributed software, the framework allows running algorithms which need great computation power on different machines which provide this power. In this way, it greatly improves programming and testing of applications in service robotics. We provide several examples of complex applications which were developed using our framework. They all have in common that they use the Roblet-Technology to combine several independently developed software components. © 2009 Springer-Verlag.