Programming Multirobot Applications using the ThinkingCap-II Java Framework Articles uri icon

authors

  • MARTÍNEZ BARBERÁ, H.
  • HERRERO PEREZ, DAVID

publication date

  • March 2010

start page

  • 62

end page

  • 75

issue

  • 1

volume

  • 24

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 1474-0346

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1873-5320

abstract

  • This paper presents a Java framework, ThinkingCap-II, for developing mobile multirobot applications, which has been successfully used in indoor, automotive and industrial robotics applications. It consists of a
    reference architecture that serves as a guide to make the functional
    decomposition of a robotics system, a software architecture that allows a
    uniform and reusable way of organising software components for robotics
    applications, and a communication infrastructure that allows software
    modules to communicate in a common way. A key aspect of this software
    architecture is that it allows code reusability by high level
    abstraction and a uniform way of accessing the characteristics of the
    sensors. In order to show the suitability of the framework, for both
    diverse complex platforms and multirobot applications, two case studies
    are discussed. One is an autonomous car-like vehicle which is guided by a
    manned vehicle, and the other an autonomous industrial vehicle which is
    member of a multirobot transportation system.