RSCA: Middleware Supporting Dynamic Reconfiguration of

Abstract – The URC robot project has recently been launched with the aims of popularizing robot systems and putting them to practical use by promoting technical innovations in home service robots. In this paper, we propose a standard software architecture, RSCA, for URC robot applications. RSCA provides a standard operating environment for robot applications together with a framework which expedites the development of such applications. The operating environment of RSCA is comprised of a real-time operating system, distribution middleware, and deployment middleware, which collectively form a hierarchical structure. First, the RTOS is a minimal abstraction layer able to flexibly execute robot applications on an assemblage of diverse hardware devices. The distribution middleware provides an abstraction layer to the applications running in a heterogeneous distributed environment by hiding that heterogeneity and the distribution characteristics from application developers. Finally, the deployment middleware supports reconfiguration of component-based robot applications including such functions as installation, creation, start, stop, tear-down, and un-installation