The robotics bus: a local communications bus for robots

Abstract

We address the development of a local bus architecture for robot systems that facilitates modular development, and increases the reliability of systems composed of heterogeneous sensors and actuators. The communications bus is based on Control Area Network (CAN), and supports distributed processing in physically separate nodes. Modular cabling and a modular software interface facilitate assembly and modification, and all bus communication is browseable for configuration and troubleshooting. We demonstrate two implementations of this system, and discuss its performance and capabilities compared to alternate communication architectures, with specific emphasis on mobile robots.