Dealing with Run-Time Variability in Service Robotics: Towards a DSL for\n Non-Functional Properties

Abstract

Service robots act in open-ended, natural environments. Therefore, due to\ncombinatorial explosion of potential situations, it is not possible to foresee\nall eventualities in advance during robot design. In addition, due to limited\nresources on a mobile robot, it is not feasible to plan any action on demand.\nHence, it is necessary to provide a mechanism to express variability at\ndesign-time that can be efficiently resolved on the robot at run-time based on\nthe then available information. In this paper, we introduce a DSL to express\nrun- time variability focused on the execution quality of the robot (in terms\nof non-functional properties like safety and task efficiency) under changing\nsituations and limited resources. We underpin the applicability of our approach\nby an example integrated into an overall robotics architecture.\n