Middleware for Robots

Abstract

Robotic systems, particularly those involving multiple robots and sensors, are increasingly distributed and het-erogeneous. We ask the question whether middleware can be used to build these systems, to alleviate unnec-essary complexities of using low-level tools while still preserving necessary levels of system performance. We motivate the answer to that question with preliminary performance studies of a particular open-source middle-ware implementation, and pose additional open ques-tions to further explore the suitability of middleware in building distributed robotics systems.