SOTER on ROS: A Run-Time Assurance Framework on the Robot Operating System

TL;DR

This paper introduces SOTER, a run-time assurance framework implemented on ROS, which guarantees safety in distributed robotic systems using a domain-specific language and assurance modules, even with untrusted components.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel run-time assurance framework for ROS-based robotic systems, enabling safety guarantees with unverified components through a language-based approach.

Findings

SOTER ensures safety in multi-robot systems during simulation.

The framework effectively manages untrusted components in robotic applications.

Demonstrated safety guarantees in a multi-robot surveillance case study.

Abstract

We present an implementation of SOTER, a run-time assurance framework for building safe distributed mobile robotic (DMR) systems, on top of the Robot Operating System (ROS). The safety of DMR systems cannot always be guaranteed at design time, especially when complex, off-the-shelf components are used that cannot be verified easily. SOTER addresses this by providing a language-based approach for run-time assurance for DMR systems. SOTER implements the reactive robotic software using the language P, a domain-specific language designed for implementing asynchronous event-driven systems, along with an integrated run-time assurance system that allows programmers to use unfortified components but still provide safety guarantees. We describe an implementation of SOTER for ROS and demonstrate its efficacy using a multi-robot surveillance case study, with multiple run-time assurance modules. Through rigorous simulation, we show that SOTER enabled systems ensure safety, even when using unknown and untrusted components.