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Updated: Aug 15, 2025
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The Modular Design and Production of an Intelligent Robot Based on a Closed-Loop Control Strategy
Published on: October 14, 2017
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Software variability in service robotics
Sergio García1, Daniel Strüber2, Davide Brugali3
1University of Gothenburg | Chalmers, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Empirical Software Engineering
|January 2, 2023
Summary
Managing software variability is key for adaptable service robots. Raising abstraction levels and standardizing interfaces will improve robot software reuse, maintenance, and evolution in dynamic environments.
Area of Science:
- Robotics engineering
- Software engineering
- Artificial intelligence
Background:
- Robotics software development is complex due to interdisciplinary needs, diverse hardware, and unpredictable environments.
- Software variability is essential for customizing robots but introduces complexity, hindering reuse and maintenance.
- Current ad hoc practices in robotics software variability management are insufficient.
Purpose of the Study:
- To empirically understand variability drivers, practices, methods, and challenges in service robotics software development.
- To analyze the state-of-the-practice and state-of-the-art in robotics software variability.
- To provide actionable recommendations for improving robotics software engineering.
Main Methods:
- A multiple-case study involving an experience report and eleven interviews with two industrial service robotics companies.
- A systematic literature review to analyze the state-of-the-art in robotics software variability.
- Triangulation of data from industry practice and literature.
Main Results:
- The need for higher abstraction levels in robotics software to simplify variability management and integration.
- The importance of robust abstractions and planned variability for reliable operation in dynamic, uncertain environments.
- Current practices often rely on formalisms like finite-state machines and behavior trees for specifying robotic behavior.
Conclusions:
- Raising abstraction levels and implementing robust abstractions are crucial for effective variability management in service robotics.
- Standardized, hardware-decoupled software components with harmonized interfaces are vital for fostering software reuse.
- An ecosystem for shared software components can significantly benefit the service robotics domain.
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