Reusability and Modifiability in Robotics Software (Extended Version)

TL;DR

This paper presents a modular, reusable, and easily modifiable software design for a weeding robot's microcontroller, utilizing architectural styles and design patterns, with empirical evaluation confirming efficiency.

Contribution

It introduces a novel software architecture for robotics that emphasizes reusability and modifiability through the use of design patterns and architectural styles.

Findings

Design yields highly reusable components

Implementation is efficient despite modular design

Empirical evaluation confirms no efficiency loss

Abstract

We show the design of the software of the microcontroller unit of a weeding robot based on the Process Control architectural style and design patterns. The design consists of 133 modules resulting from using 8 design patterns for a total of 30 problems. As a result the design yields more reusable components and an easily modifiable and extensible program. Design documentation is also presented. Finally, the implementation (12 KLOC of C++ code) is empirically evaluated to prove that the design does not produce an inefficient implementation.