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This paper presents a method of designing variable structure control systems for robots. As the on-board robot computational resources are limited, but in some cases the demands imposed on the robot by the user are virtually limitless, the solution is to produce a variable structure system. The task dependent part has to be exchanged, however the task governs the activities of the robot. Thus not only exchange of some task-dependent modules is required, but also supervisory responsibilities have to be switched. Such control systems are necessary in the case of robot companions, where the owner of the robot may demand from it to

Hop.js is a multitier programming environment for JavaScript. It allows a single JavaScript program to describe the client-side and the server-side components of a web application. Its runtime environment ensures consistent executions of the application on the server and on the client.This paper overviews the Hop.js design. It shows the JavaScript extensions that makes it possible to conceive web applications globally. It presents how Hop.js interacts with the outside world. It also briefly presents the Hop.js implementation. It presents the Hop.js web server implementation, the handling of server-side parallelism, and the JavaScript and HTML compilers.

It is a general truth that increase of age is associated with a level of mental and physical decline but unfortunately the former are often accompanied by social exclusion leading to marginalization and eventually further acceleration of the aging process. A new approach in alleviating the social exclusion of older people involves the use of assistive robots. As robots rapidly invade everyday life, the need of new software paradigms in order to address the user's unique needs becomes critical. In this paper we present a novel architectural design, the RAPP [a software platform to deliver smart, user empowering robotic applications (RApps)] framework that attempts to address this issue. The proposed framework has been designed in a cloud-based approach, integrating robotic devices and their respective applications. We aim to facilitate seamless development of RApps compatible with a wide range of supported robots and available to the public through a unified online store.

Hop.js is a multitier programming environment for JavaScript. It allows a single JavaScript program to describe the client-side and the server-side components of a web application. Its runtime environment ensures consistent executions of the application on the server and on the client. This paper overviews the Hop.js design. It shows the JavaScript extensions that makes it possible to conceive web applications globally. It presents how Hop.js interacts with the outside world. It also briefly presents the Hop.js implementation. It presents the Hop.js web server implementation, the handling of server-side parallelism, and the JavaScript and HTML compilers.