Distributed Real-time Control Architecture for ROS-based Modular Robots

Abstract Nowadays ROS (Robot Operating System) based platforms have been widely used in state of art robot researches because of providing reliable mechanisms for fast robot development and algorithm reuse. Among them, modular robots are presented as a Distributed Control System (DCS), in which the data supply and the flow rates must be ensured to guarantee a proper execution. Although ROS network architecture provides a solution for distributed communication, it entails some disadvantages. Real-time constraints assurance and large networks management are some of the main problems. Therefore, this works introduces a ROS-compatible solution for Smart Resource services decoupling on modular robots. Smart Resources are defined as cyber-physical systems that provide high-level operation services. The design and analysis of a new distributed communication architecture for accessing Smart Resource services is addressed along this document. This architecture is called ROS Multi-Peer Architecture (RMPA) and features real-time communication, fully decoupled ROS device execution, and device discovery. So, the integration of RMPA in ROS based developments provides realtime access to the high-level supplied by the Smart Resources. This integration promotes the development of ROS-compatible robot modules based on the Smart Resource design. Next, a set of tests is presented to compare RMPA and ROS communication performance. Moreover, a detailed study of the RMPA performance is also addressed. Finally, as a result of these experiments main advantages and withdrawals of this solution are discussed leading to the establishment of future work and enhancements.