A generic synchronous dataflow architecture to rapidly prototype and deploy robot controllers. (30th April 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ferigo, Diego; Traversaro, Silvio; Romano, Francesco; Pucci, Daniele
• Is Part Of: International journal of advanced robotic systems. Volume 17:Number 2(2020:Mar./Apr.)
• Publication Date: 2020-04-30
• Subjects: Model-based design -- robot controllers -- rapid prototyping and deployment -- robotic middlewares -- code generation -- actor-oriented programming; Robotics -- Periodicals; Robotics; Periodicals; 629.892
• DOI: 10.1177/1729881420921625
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1729-8806

Abstract

The article presents a software architecture to optimize the process of prototyping and deploying robot controllers that are synthesized using model-based design methodologies. The architecture is composed of a framework and a pipeline. Therefore, the contribution of the article is twofold. First, we introduce an open-source actor-oriented framework that abstracts the common robotic uses of middlewares, optimizers, and simulators. Using this framework, we then present a pipeline that implements the model-based design methodology. The components of the proposed framework are generic, and they can be interfaced with any tool supporting model-based design. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach describing the application of the resulting synchronous dataflow architecture to the design of a balancing controller for the YARP-based humanoid robot iCub. This example exploits the interfacing with Simulink® and Simulink® Coder™.