Middleware for Robotic Applications

General:

• adds introspection/reflection and serialization to C++ with the usage of C++ language-constructs only (a meta-language or metacompilers are not necessary)
• efficient data exchange between software modules
• the used communication technique based on "channels" always allows non-blocking access to the transferred data {{Cite book |doi = 10.1109/IROS.2012.6385959|chapter = MIRA - middleware for robotic applications|title = 2012 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems|pages = 2591–2598|year = 2012|last1 = Einhorn|first1 = Erik|last2 = Langner|first2 = Tim|last3 = Stricker|first3 = Ronny|last4 = Martin|first4 = Christian|last5 = Gross|first5 = Horst-Michael|isbn = 978-1-4673-1736-8|s2cid = 16389868}}
• for the user the communication is fully transparent no matter if the software modules are located within the same process, different processes or on different machines, the underlying transport layer will choose the fasted method for data transportation automatically
• beside data exchange via "channels", MIRA supports Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) and Remote Method Invokation.
• MIRA is fully decentralized, hence there is no central server or central communication hub, making its communication more robust and allows its usage in multi-robot applications

File:MiraCenterScreenshot.png

Robotic Application specific:

• easy configuration of software modules via configuration files
• parameters of algorithms can be modified live at runtime to speed up the debugging and development process
• huge amounts of robot sensor data can be recorded in Tapes for later playback, here different codecs can be used to compress the data

MIRA supports and was successfully tested on the following platforms:

• Linux – Ubuntu and derivates, OpenSuse, CentOS, Red Hat and Fedora{{cite web|title=MIRA Documentation - Linux Support|url=http://www.mira-project.org/MIRA-doc/RequirementsLinux.html}}
• Windows – Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 (32bit and 64bit){{cite web|title=MIRA Documentation - Windows Support|url=http://www.mira-project.org/MIRA-doc/InstallationPage.html}}

MIRA is used within the following applications:

• Konrad and Suse - Guide Robots, that guide visitors within the Zuse-Building of the Ilmenau University of Technology{{cite news|title=TU Ilmenau: Konrad-Zuse-Bau eröffnet|url=http://ilmenau.thueringer-allgemeine.de/web/lokal/leben/detail/-/specific/TU-Ilmenau-Konrad-Zuse-Bau-eroeffnet-2021140944|newspaper=Thüringer Allgemeine Zeitung}}{{cite book|last=Stricker|first=Ronny |display-authors=etal |title= Autonomous Mobile Systems 2012|year=2012|doi=10.1007/978-3-642-32217-4_6|series=Informatik aktuell|isbn=978-3-642-32216-7|pages=49–58|chapter=Konrad and Suse, Two Robots Guiding Visitors in a University Building |s2cid=18149753 }}
• Monitoring the air quality within clean rooms at Infineon Technologies using several SCITOS G5 robots{{cite news|title=Ilmenauer Oberbürgermeister ließ sich von Roboter den Weg zeigen|url=http://ilmenau.thueringer-allgemeine.de/web/lokal/wirtschaft/detail/-/specific/Ilmenauer-Oberbuergermeister-liess-sich-von-Roboter-den-Weg-zeigen-496313255|newspaper=Thüringer Allgemeine Zeitung}}{{cite news|title=Der Markt bietet hohe Potenziale für mobile Robotik|url=http://www.tria-online.eu/index.php/news-a-info/highlights/969-metra|newspaper=TRIA}}

and projects:

• CompanionAble - Integrated Cognitive Assistive & Domotic Companion Robotic System for Ability & Security{{cite web|title=CompanionAble|url=http://www.companionable.net/}}
• Robot-Era - Implementation and integration of advanced robotic systems and intelligent environments in real scenarios for the ageing population{{cite web|title=Robot-Era|url=http://www.robot-era.eu/robotera/}}

class Data

{

int value;

std::map > complex;

Foo* ptr;

template

void reflect(Reflector& r)

{

r.member("Value", value, "an int member");

r.member("Complex", complex, "a complex member");

r.member("Pointer", ptr, "a pointer pointer");

}

};

• arbitrary complex data types can be serialized by adding a simple reflect method to the class as shown above
• after these minor changes, the objects of the class can be transported via inter-process communication, can be used as parameters in configuration files for software modules, can be recorded in "Tape" files, etc.

class MyClass

{

int compute(const std::list& values);

template

void reflect(Reflector& r)

{

r.method("compute", &MyClass::compute, this, "comment");

}

};

• arbitrary methods can be turned into RPC methods by adding one line of code within the reflect() method. There is no need to write wrappers around the methods or to use meta description languages.

• Open-source robotics

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.mira-project.org MIRA Website]
• [http://www.mira-project.org/MIRA-doc/index.html MIRA Documentation]
• [http://www.mira-project.org/osqa MIRA Questions & Answers]

Category:Robotics software

Category:Robotics suites

Category:2012 software

Category:2012 in robotics