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PurposeThis paper seeks to develop universal software (a programming framework) enabling the implementation of service robot controllers. The software should distinguish the hardware‐oriented part of the system from the task‐oriented one. Moreover, force, vision as well as other sensors should be taken into account. Multi‐effector systems have to be considered.Design/methodology/approachThe robot programming framework MRROC++ has been implemented as a hierarchical structure composed of processes, potentially consisting of threads. All of the software is written in an object‐oriented manner using C++ and is supervised by a QNX real‐time operating system. The framework has been verified on several systems executing diverse tasks. Here, a Rubik's cube puzzle‐solving system, consisting of two arms and utilizing force control and visual servos, is presented.FindingsThe presented framework is well suited to tasks requiring two‐handed manipulation with force sensing, visual servoing and online construction of plans of actions. The Rubik's cube puzzle is a reasonable initial benchmark for validation of fundamental service robot capabilities. It requires force sensing and sight coupled with two‐handed manipulation and logical reasoning, as do the majority of service tasks. Owing to the use of force sensing during manipulation, jamming of the faces has always been avoided; however, visual servoing could only cope with slow handing over of the cube due to the volume of computations associated with vision processing.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposed software structure does not limit the implementation of service robot controllers. However, some of the specific algorithms used for the solution of the benchmark task (i.e. Rubik's cube puzzle) need to be less time‐consuming.Practical implicationsThe MRROC++ robot programming framework can be applied to the implementation of diverse robot controllers executing complex service tasks.Originality/valueA demanding benchmark task for service robots has been formulated. This task, as well as many others, has been used to validate the MRROC++ robot programming framework which significantly facilitates the implementation of diverse robot systems.

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Absrrucz -The paper describes two crucial modules of a laser-based vision system for an underwater welding vehicle which is a joint research project of Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) and a major international corporation. The vehicle would automatically approach an underwater object, find weld seams, detect cracks and finally weld them. The first module is the ranging system. The experiments have shown that much better accuracy has been achieved when approximating polynomial functions are used instead of standard triangulation techniques. The second module detects and localises weld seams by extracting shape primitives corresponding to the expected configuration of seams from the laser-produced contours. Although the experiments are currently conducted in air, the proposed solution should be equally suitable for an underwater environment as well.ISIE'99 -Bled, Slovenia