User expectations towards the benefits of the RobMoSys approach will strongly depend on the individual situation:
- Role in the robotics value chain
(end-user, system integrator, robot manufacturer, component supplier, etc.) - Field of application
(industry, medical, agriculture, etc.) - Function in the company
(CEO, manager, software developer, engineer, etc.) - Role in the RobMoSys ecosystems
( Behavior Developer, Function Developer, Safety Engineer, System Builder, etc.)
From a technical perspective, the benefits of the RobMoSys methodology and tools will lead to
- simplifying the setup and configuration of hardware and software
- Easy integration and extension of software tool-chains and eco-systems in industrial production setups in a vendor-neutral style
- composable and replaceable components
- predictable and traceable properties
- reusable systems
- ease of use by simplifying the entrance and usability of software components
- reliably quality of service
- standardization of models and interfaces
- certifyable systems
RobMoSys user benefits from a technical perspective
These benefits will translate in a set main incentives of the RobMoSys approach from a commercial perspective:
- Reduction of development time, resulting both in
- reduced costs and
- shorter time to market
- Systems should become more easily re-usable and, as a consequence, should
- Enable larger production volumes of components and systems (using flexible production units)
- Base components could be commoditised
- Systems will become certifyable
- Safety of systems will be predictable
- Easier reconfigurable systems will allow for mass customization of products
- Better comparability of systems and components will be enabled through appropriate metrics (benchmarking)
RobMoSys main incentives from commercial point-of-view
More detailed examples of technical user stories are explained in the RobMoSys wiki.
You will also find an in-depth explanation on roles in the RobMoSys ecosystem (which differ from the roles in the robotics value chain).
Imagine you have developed software to localize a robot in the environment and you are interested in making it available in robotics.
- You are
- an SME, specialized in a certain domain
- e.g. a component supplier for robot navigation
- You want to
- express your offer with pivotal features such that others can find your component (yellow pages)
- ensure that others can use your component (composability + compositionality)
- explicate non-functional properties of your component
and define its variation points
Imagine you as an integrator are willing to develop an application which needs a localization module and you are interested in integrating the third-party localization software on your intralogistics mobile platform.
- You are
- an SME that wants to access robotics technology and that wants to build a robot application
- You want
- to select components from the market matching your expressed needs
- your application to be correct by construction: you expect that building blocks seamlessly fit together
- to view components as grey-boxes and use them “as-is”: adjust only at explicated variation points within modeled boundaries, do not modify source code.
RobMoSys’ results will
- enable the increase of the quality of the developed component thanks to the use of formal models and validation of functional and non-functional properties supported by industry-grade tools
- enable distribution of robotics software with a description and information about its quality, maturity and usage constraints
- enable an integrator or end-user to integrate a localization module that was developed in a given environment (e.g. ROS, Yarp, SmartSoft, MOOS, Orocos, Reflexxes, MoveIT), in his own proprietary environment thanks to proper bridges between the platform-independent model and the target platform
- increase the quality of the integration thanks to formal techniques implemented in industry- grade tools.