G/sup en/oM: a tool for the specification and the implementation of operating modules in a distributed robot architecture

This paper presents a general methodology for the specification and the integration of functional modules in a distributed reactive robot architecture. The approach is based on a hybrid architecture basically composed of two levels: a lower distributed functional level controlled by a centralized decisional level. Due to this methodology, synchronous or asynchronous operating capabilities (servo-control, data processing, event monitoring) can be easily added to the functional level. They are encapsulated into modules, built according to a generic model, that are seen by the decisional level as homogeneous, programmable, reactive and robust communicant services. Each module is simply described with a specific language and is automatically produced by a generator of modules (G/sup en/oM) according to the generic model. G/sup en/oM also produces an interactive test program and interface libraries to control the module and to read the resulting data, which allow one to directly integrate the module into the architecture.