Design of (Robotics) Software Standards

This paper presents a strategy to design standards for software libraries in robotic systems (or rather, in large-scale engineering systems in general). The strategy involves the separation between objects (algorithmic functionality and single-activity behaviour) and components (multi-activity interaction architecture and behaviour), and the introduction of four complementary levels in software standardization, in order to develop standards that are consistent and stable enough to survive the never-ending evolution in the domain of robotics. The major motivation behind the standards-making strategy is decoupling : (i) to divide the domain to be standardised into a family of complementary substandards (either hierarchically ordered, or unconnected) that are each as small as naturally possible, and that can be combined in various ways according to the needs of specific application domains; and (ii) to separate the abstract programming interface of each library from its concrete implementation(s). These standardization suggestions could inspire many (Open Source) robotics software projects, enhancing their interoperability.