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CorteX: A Software Framework for Interoperable, Plug-and-Play, Distributed, Robotic Systems of Systems

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Software Engineering for Robotics

Abstract

Robots are being used for an increasing number and range of tasks in the fields of nuclear energy, mining, petrochemical processing, and sub-sea. This is resulting in ever more complex robotics installations being deployed, maintained, and extended over long periods of time. Additionally, the unstructured, experimental, or unknown operational conditions frequently result in new or changing system requirements, meaning extension and adaptation is necessary. Whilst existing frameworks allow for robust integration of complex robotic systems, they are not compatible with highly efficient maintenance and extension in the face of changing requirements and obsolescence issues over decades-long periods. We present CorteX that attempts to solve the long-term maintainability and extensibility issues encountered in such scenarios through the use of a standardised, self-describing data representations and associated communications protocols. Progress in developing and testing the CorteX framework, as well as an overview of current and planned deployments, will be presented.

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Acknowledgements

CorteX is an intellectual property of the UKAEA. This work is partly supported by the UK Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Grant No. EP/R026084/1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Remote Applications in Challenging Environments (RACE), Culham Science Centre, Abingdon, UK

    Ipek Caliskanelli, Matthew Goodliffe, Craig Whiffin, Michail Xymitoulias, Edward Whittaker, Swapnil Verma, Craig Hickman, Chen Minghao & Robert Skilton

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  1. Ipek Caliskanelli
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Correspondence to Robert Skilton .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of York, York, UK

    Ana Cavalcanti

  2. University of Surrey, Guildford, UK

    Brijesh Dongol

  3. University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Rob Hierons

  4. University of Sunderland, Sunderland, UK

    Jon Timmis

  5. Department of Computer Science, University of York, York, UK

    Jim Woodcock

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Caliskanelli, I. et al. (2021). CorteX: A Software Framework for Interoperable, Plug-and-Play, Distributed, Robotic Systems of Systems. In: Cavalcanti, A., Dongol, B., Hierons, R., Timmis, J., Woodcock, J. (eds) Software Engineering for Robotics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66494-7_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66494-7_10

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