Abstract
Intelligent robots are autonomous and are used in environments where human interaction is hazardous or impossible. Verification of software for intelligent robots is mandatory because in situations where intelligent robots are employed online, error recovery is almost impossible. In this paper, we provide a formal framework for offline verification of software used in robotic applications. The specification enables one to design a robotic agent which represents a class of real-life robots. Forward and inverse kinematic operations of the robotic agent are specified using the specification for rigid solids and their primitive operations. An object-oriented design of the robotic agent derived from the specifications is given. We use the specification technique VDM for our purpose.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alagar, V.S. and Periyasamy, K., On transforming formal specifications of requirements to objectoriented design, to be presented inHarnessing the Object Revolution: Workshop on Object-Oriented Software Engineering Practice, Denver, Colorado, USA, Feb 1992.
Alagar, V.S., Bui, T.D. and Periyasamy, K., A formal framework for specifying robot kinematics,Proc. European Intelligent Robotic Systems Conference, Corfu, Greece (1991).
Barrett, G., Formal methods applied to a floating-point number system,IEEE Trans. Software Engineering 15(5), (1989).
Brady, M.,Robotics Science, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA (1989).
Christiansen, A.D., A framework for specifying robotic agents, Technical Report-CMU-CS-89-155, Department of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh (1989).
Cohen, B., Harwood, W.T. and Jackson, M.I.,Specification of Complex Systems, Addison-Wesley, New York (1986).
Craig, J.J.,Introduction to Robotics, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA (1989).
Dawes, J.,The VDM-SL Reference Guide, Pitman, London (1991).
Froome, P. and Monahan, B., The role of mathematically formal methods in the development and assessment of safety-critical systems,Microprocessors and Microsystems (UK) 12(10), 539–546 (1988).
IEEE COMPUTER, Special Issue on Formal Methods, September 1990.
IEEE Spectrum, Special Issue on Formal Methods, September 1990.
IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Special Issue on Formal Methods, September 1990.
Meyer, B.,Object-Oriented Software Construction, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliff (1989).
Pars, L.A.,A Treatise on Analytical Dynamics, Heinemann, London (1965).
Paul, R.P.,Robot Manipulators, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA (1981).
Periyasamy, K., Alagar, V.S. and Bui, T.D., Specifications for geometric primitives, Technical Report-CSD-90-4, Department of Computer Science, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, 1990.
Periyasamy, K., Robotic agents and assembly process: A formal specification case study, PhD Thesis, Department of Computer Science, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, Aug 1991.
Wichmann, B.A., Towards the formal specification of floating point,The Computer Journal 32(5), 432–436 (1989).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This work was partially supported by FCAR, Quebec and NSERC, Canada.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Periyasamy, K., Alagar, V.S. & Bui, T.D. A formal framework for design and verification of robotic agents. J Intell Robot Syst 8, 173–200 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01257994
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01257994