TY - GEN
T1 - System presentation - Functional reactive robotics
T2 - Proceedings of the Fourth ACM SIGPLAN Conference on Principles and Practice of Declarative Programming (PPDP'02)
AU - Pembeci, Izzet
AU - Nilsson, Henrik
AU - Hager, Gregory
PY - 2002/12/1
Y1 - 2002/12/1
N2 - Software for (semi-) autonomous robots tends to be a complex combination of components from many different application domains such as control theory, vision, and artificial intelligence. Components are often developed using their own domain-specific tools and abstractions. System integration can thus be a significant challenge, in particular when the application calls for a dynamic, adaptable system structure in which rigid boundaries between the subsystems are a performance impediment. We believe that, by identifying suitably abstract notions common to the different domains in question, it is possible to create a broader frame-work for software integration and to recast existing domain-specific frameworks in these terms. This approach simplifies integration and leads to improved reliability. In this paper, we show how Functional Reactive Programming (FRP) can serve as such a unifying framework for programming vision-guided, semi-autonomous robots and illustrate the benefits this approach entails. The key abstractions in FRP, reactive components describing continuous or discrete behavior in a declarative style, are first class entities, allowing the resulting systems to exhibit a dynamic, adaptable structure which we regard as especially important in the area of autonomous robots.
AB - Software for (semi-) autonomous robots tends to be a complex combination of components from many different application domains such as control theory, vision, and artificial intelligence. Components are often developed using their own domain-specific tools and abstractions. System integration can thus be a significant challenge, in particular when the application calls for a dynamic, adaptable system structure in which rigid boundaries between the subsystems are a performance impediment. We believe that, by identifying suitably abstract notions common to the different domains in question, it is possible to create a broader frame-work for software integration and to recast existing domain-specific frameworks in these terms. This approach simplifies integration and leads to improved reliability. In this paper, we show how Functional Reactive Programming (FRP) can serve as such a unifying framework for programming vision-guided, semi-autonomous robots and illustrate the benefits this approach entails. The key abstractions in FRP, reactive components describing continuous or discrete behavior in a declarative style, are first class entities, allowing the resulting systems to exhibit a dynamic, adaptable structure which we regard as especially important in the area of autonomous robots.
KW - Domain-Specific Languages
KW - Functional Programming
KW - Robotics
KW - Vision
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0036989098&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0036989098&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:0036989098
SN - 1581135289
T3 - Proceedings of the ACM SIGPLAN Conference on Principles and Practice of Declarative Programming (PPDP'02)
SP - 168
EP - 179
BT - Proceedings of the ACM SIGPLAN Conference on Principles and Practice of Declarative Programming (PPDP'02)
Y2 - 6 October 2002 through 8 October 2002
ER -