From Formalised State Machines to Implementations of Robotic Controllers

Abstract

Controllers for autonomous robotic systems can be specified using state machines. However, these are typically developed in an ad hoc manner without formal semantics, which makes it difficult to analyse the controller. Simulations are often used during the development, but a rigorous connection between the designed controller and the implementation is often overlooked. This paper presents a statemachine based notation, RoboChart, together with a tool to automatically create code from the state machines, establishing a rigorous connection between specification and implementation. In RoboChart, a robot's controller is specified either graphically or using a textual description language. The controller code for simulation is automatically generated through a direct mapping from the specification. We demonstrate our approach using two case studies (self-organized aggregation and swarm taxis) in swarm robotics. The simulations are presented using two different simulators showing the general applicability of our approach.

Recent Trends in Formal Validation and Verification of Autonomous Robots Software

“…Some models are grounded in simple yet powerfull primitives. automatas and state machine [Bohren and Cousins, 2010;Jónsson et al, 2006;Li et al, 2018] are often put forward as they easily capture the various states of the subsystems and their transitions. Petri net [Costelha and Lima, 2012;Lesire and Pommereau, 2018] are also often used, as they easily model coordination, together with their time extension, e.g.…”

RoboChart: modelling and verification of the functional behaviour of robotic applications

“…An early version of RoboChart was discussed informally in [51], where we approached the issue of automatic simulation generation. This important aspect of our work was partially addressed in [51] via a discussion of an initial version of our facilities for automatic code generation in C++. Our focus in this paper, however, is on the RoboChart notation, its semantics, and its tool.…”

“…Our focus in this paper, however, is on the RoboChart notation, its semantics, and its tool. A revision of the early approach in [51] to sound simulation is ongoing work.…”

Modelling and Verification of Timed Robotic Controllers

“…In this paper we present a timed semantics for RoboChart [3], a state-machine based notation that can be characterised as a UML profile extended with time primitives and with a formal semantics. RoboChart provides constructs for capturing the architectural patterns of typical timed and reactive robotic systems.…”

“…A controller can encapsulate multiple state-machines, and is connected with a particular platform via the notion of a module. This enables an abstract and precise approach to the design of robotic systems, where high-level concepts can be mapped into low-level constructs of typical executable simulations, for example, as we have considered in [3].…”