# Application of Cloud Simulation Techniques for Robotic Software Validation

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a CI/CD pipeline using cloud simulations to improve robotic software development, specifically for a ROS-based application called ATOM.

## Contribution

A novel CI pipeline integrating cloud simulation and testing tools for robotic software development is proposed and validated.

## Key findings

- The proposed pipeline successfully integrates GitHub Actions, AWS RoboMaker, and Rigel for robotic software validation.
- Static analysis and unit testing via Codacy were effectively incorporated into the pipeline.
- The pipeline serves as a blueprint for similar robotic software development projects.

## Abstract

Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment are known methodologies for software development that increase the overall quality of the development process. Several robotic software repositories make use of CI/CD tools as an aid to development. However, very few CI pipelines take advantage of using cloud computing to run simulations. Here, a CI pipeline is proposed that takes advantage of such features, applied to the development of ATOM, a ROS-based application capable of carrying out the calibration of generalized robotic systems. The proposed pipeline uses GitHub Actions as a CI/CD engine, AWS RoboMaker as a service for running simulations on the cloud and Rigel as a tool to both containerize ATOM and execute the tests. In addition, a static analysis and unit testing component is implemented with the use of Codacy. The creation of the pipeline was successful, and it was concluded that it constitutes a valuable tool for the development of ATOM and a blueprint for the creation of similar pipelines for other robotic systems.