Integration of Distributed Robotic Systems

Abstract

Creating a distributed and remote operated robotic system is a very challenging and time-consuming task. This paper contains the development issues taking into account when multiple robotic components are integrated to create a distributed robotic application using the standard middleware, Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) specification. The main idea is to define a set of generic interfaces using the Interface Definition Language (IDL) that can be used with common components in order to facilitate the integration of new components or the modification of them. The generic IDL interfaces are based on wrapper functions, which provide an abstract encapsulated behaviors of the low level components. The approach is shown using two types of arm manipulators and two different pan-tilt model units. Because of the modularity and the abstraction of this approach, this development can be seen as the first stage in constructing more autonomous and complex system.