Development of Applications for Humanoid Robots Using Multiple Platforms, Tools, and Cloud Data Sharing

Abstract

This paper describes the procedure followed for using third-party tools and applications, avoiding the development of complex communication software modules for data sharing. A common practice in robotics is the use of middlewares to interconnect different software applications, hardware components, or even complete systems. It allows code and tool reuse minimizing the development effort. In this way, applications developed for one middleware can be shared with others by means of establishing communication bridges among them. The most extended procedure is the development of software modules that use the low-level communication resources that middlewares provide. This procedure has many advantages but a clear disadvantage: the complexity of development. The procedure proposed is based on the use of cloud technologies for data sharing without the development of middleware bridges. The way of inter-relate different middlewares is by means of the development of a compatible robot model. This procedure has enabled the use of the ArmarX middleware tools and the application of the results obtained to the humanoid robot TEO, that uses the YARP middleware, in an easy and fast way.