A layered architectural component model service teleoperated robots

Abstract

The teleoperated robots are used for performing works that human operators can not carry out due to the very nature of their tasks or the hostile nature of the working environment. Though many control architectures have been defined for developing such kind of systems and reuse common components, none of them have reached all its objectives due to the great variability among systems behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to present a new architectural approach for the development of these systems that takes into account the current advances in robotic architectures as well as the componentoriented approach. The described architectural approach provides a common framework for developing robotized systems with very different behaviors and for integrating intelligent components. The architecture is currently being used, tested and improved in the development of a family of robots, teleoperated cranes and vehicles, which perform an environmentally friendly cleaning of hull-ship surfaces (the EFTCoR project). This paper summarises the methodological approach taken, the features of the systems that constitute its design drivers and finally the main characteristics of the proposed architecture.