Choulsoo Jang

A Development of Software Component Framework for Robotic Services

Robot software components, which can be accessed through their interface, are reusable and replaceable software modules used in composing robotic services. Using robot software components in developing a robot, developers can expect shortening of developing times, reduction of maintenance cost and improvement of program reusability, because interoperability among components is guaranteed. We have developed a component framework assisting robot developers to make robot application with ease. The component framework consists of a specification of component model, a component authoring tool, a component composer, and a component container. In this paper, we will not only show the developed component framework, but also demonstrate its usability by applying to commercial robots.

A heterogeneous coupling scheme of OPRoS component framework with ROS

The Open Platform for Robotic Services (OPRoS) supports the full life cycle for robot software development and execution by providing the robot software component model, component execution engine, various middleware services, development tools, and simulation environment. This paper describes a heterogeneous coupling scheme of OPRoS framework with ROS of which the communication infrastructure is made with the topics based on public/subscribe scheme.

Real-time supporting of OPRoS component Platform

The Open Platform for Robotic Services (OPRoS) supports the full life cycle for robot software development and execution by providing the robot software component model, component execution engine, various middleware services, development tools, and simulation environment. This paper describes real-time supporting of OPRoS component execution engine which is responsible for management and execution of components.

A Development of H.264 Encoder Adapted to the WiBro Communication Environment for the Real-Time Tele-operation of Robots

The images obtained through the camera mounted on a robot should be transmitted to the remote user in order to control the robot on a real time basis. For the real-time transmission of images, encoded video data should be compacted as small as it is suitable in transmitting through the transmission channel, and the image compression module which is installed on a robot has to be implemented as it can have the minimum encoding time. Furthermore, the encoder should adapt to the wireless communications environment such as WiBro which has the variable communication bandwidths. In this paper, a development of image compression module based on H.264 for the real-time tele-operation of robots in the WiBro environment is discussed.

Casting Mobile Agents to Workflow Systems: On Performance and Scalability Issues

In this paper we describe two important design issues of mobile agents-based workflow systems; in architecture and workflow execution levels. Solutions for better performance and scalability of workflow systems are proposed. We suggest 3-layer architecture and agent delegation model in architecture and workflow execution levels of workflow systems respectively. Mobile agents effectively distribute workloads of a naming/location server and a workflow engine to others based on the proposed methods. In consequence, the performance and the scalability of workflow systems are improved. This effectiveness is shown through comparison with client server-based and another mobile agent-based workflow systems with stochastic Petri-nets simulation. Simulation results show that our approach not only outperforms others in massive workflow environment but also comes up with the scalability of previous mobile agent-based workflow systems.

Event Port Extension of OPRoS Framework for Inter-connecting with ROS Topic

ROS is based on a graph architecture where processing takes place in nodes. Nodes communicate together by passing messages through topics based on the publish/subscribe model. On the other hand, OPRoS components know each other and are tightly-coupled via port connections, and different coupling schemes make the interoperation between two platforms difficult. This paper describes an extension of OPRoS framework to support the interoperation with the ROS topic.

A Method to Support Real-time for User-level Robot Components on Windows

Intelligent service robots leading the future market are robots which assist humans physically, mentally, and emotionally. Since intelligent service robots operate in a tightly coupled manner with humans, their safe operation should be an inevitable consideration. For this safety, real-time capabilities are necessary to execute certain services periodically. Currently, most robot components are being developed based on Windows for the sake of development convenience. However, since Windows does not support real-time, there is no option but to use expensive third-party software such as RTX and INTime. Also since most robot components are usually execute in user-level, we need to research how to support real-time in user-level. In this paper, we design and implement how to support real-time for components running in user-level on Windows using RTiK which actually supports real-time in kernel level on Windows.

Cooperative Localization for Multi-robot Incorporating Proprioceptive/Exteroceptive Position Sensors

This paper presents a new method of cooperative localization for multiple robots utilizing correlation between GPS errors of common mode in shared workspace. Assuming that GPS data of individual robot are correlated strongly as the distance between robots are close, we utilize the differential position data between the robots to refine robot’s position data. Under artificial environment for simulation with imposed model error to robot motion and GPS sensor data error, it is confirmed that the proposed method provides improved localization accuracy [9]. In addition, we present a practical solution to accumulated position error in traveling long distance.

A robot software middleware based on the OPRoS and the RTX

The OPRoS(Open Platform for Robotic Services) is a robot software platform to operate hardware device components and software algorithm components in order to perform given tasks effectively. But, the OPRoS cannot support hard real time in the MS Windows due to limit of general purpose operating system that aims at efficiency of overall processes. IntervalZeros RTX transforms Windows into a real time operating system. This paper introduces a robot software middleware that support to develop real-time robot application using OPRoS component model on the RTX.

The OPRoS fault processing framework

The Open Platform for Robotic Services (OPRoS) is a robot software platform that provides component-based development and execution environments for robot software. It also supports the full life cycle for robot software development and execution by providing the robot software component model, component execution engine, various middleware services, development tools, and simulation environment. This paper describes the fault processing framework that processes faults in the OPRoS component execution engine.