A Generalised Communication Framework for the Remote Control of Robots
Dale Tristram · 2011
The robotics industry is plagued with proprietary interfaces for computer-to-robot communication. Open source projects have emerged in an attempt to create robot communication standards that will benefit the industry as a whole, but have thus far only satisfied particular use cases. This project investigates the feasibility of creating a generalised computer-to-robot communication framework that provides a uniform interface to a robot’s functionality over HTTP, is easy to use, and is accessible by smartphone and tablet devices. This is achieved by developing a prototype framework that satisfies the above objective. Analysis of the framework reveals that it is easy to deploy, and significantly reduces the complexity and code required to perform simple operations on a test robot. Therefore, it can be concluded that it is both feasible and beneficial to robot users and developers to use a framework such as the one created. ACM Computing Classification System Classification Thesis classification under ACM Computing Classification System (1998 version, valid through 2011) D.3.3 [Language Constructs and Features]: Frameworks I.2.9 [Robotics]: Operator interfaces H.3.5 [Online Information Services]: Web-based services General-Terms: Robot Interface, Framework