Software Engineering for Robotics

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xx

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2. Software Product Line Engineering for Robotics

   • Davide Brugali

   Pages 1-28

3. Towards Autonomous Robot Evolution

   • Agoston E. Eiben, Emma Hart, Jon Timmis, Andy M. Tyrrell, Alan F. Winfield

   Pages 29-51Open Access

4. Composition, Separation of Roles and Model-Driven Approaches as Enabler of a Robotics Software Ecosystem

   • Christian Schlegel, Alex Lotz, Matthias Lutz, Dennis Stampfer

   Pages 53-108Open Access

5. Testing Industrial Robotic Systems: A New Battlefield!

   • Arnaud Gotlieb, Dusica Marijan, Helge Spieker

   Pages 109-137

6. Gaining Confidence in the Trustworthiness of Robotic and Autonomous Systems

   • Kerstin Eder

   Pages 139-164

7. Robot Accident Investigation: A Case Study in Responsible Robotics

   • Alan F. T. Winfield, Katie Winkle, Helena Webb, Ulrik Lyngs, Marina Jirotka, Carl Macrae

   Pages 165-187

8. Verifiable Autonomy and Responsible Robotics

   • Louise Dennis, Michael Fisher

   Pages 189-217Open Access

9. Verification of Autonomous Robots: A Roboticist’s Bottom-Up Approach

   • Félix Ingrand

   Pages 219-248

10. RoboStar Technology: A Roboticist’s Toolbox for Combined Proof, Simulation, and Testing

    • Ana Cavalcanti, Will Barnett, James Baxter, Gustavo Carvalho, Madiel Conserva Filho, Alvaro Miyazawa et al.

    Pages 249-293

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

    • Ipek Caliskanelli, Matthew Goodliffe, Craig Whiffin, Michail Xymitoulias, Edward Whittaker, Swapnil Verma et al.

    Pages 295-344

12. Mutation Testing for RoboChart

    • Robert M. Hierons, Maciej Gazda, Pablo Gómez-Abajo, Raluca Lefticaru, Mercedes G. Merayo

    Pages 345-375

13. Languages for Specifying Missions of Robotic Applications

    • Swaib Dragule, Sergio García Gonzalo, Thorsten Berger, Patrizio Pelliccione

    Pages 377-411

14. RoboStar Technology: Modelling Uncertainty in RoboChart Using Probability

    • Jim Woodcock, Simon Foster, Alexandre Mota, Kangfeng Ye

    Pages 413-465

15. Panel Discussion: Regulation and Ethics of Robotics and Autonomous Systems

    • Brijesh Dongol, Ron Bell, Ibrahim Habli, Mark Lawford, Pippa Moore, Zeyn Saigol

    Pages 467-483

The topics covered in this book range from modeling and programming languages and environments, via approaches for design and verification, to issues of ethics and regulation. In terms of techniques, there are results on model-based engineering, product lines, mission specification, component-based development, simulation, testing, and proof. Applications range from manufacturing to service robots, to autonomous vehicles, and even robots than evolve in the real world. A final chapter summarizes issues on ethics and regulation based on discussions from a panel of experts.

 

The origin of this book is a two-day event, entitled RoboSoft, that took place in November 2019, in London. Organized with the generous support of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the University of York, UK, RoboSoft brought together more than 100 scientists, engineers and practitioners from all over the world, representing 70 international institutions.

 

Theintended readership includes researchers and practitioners with all levels of experience interested in working in the area of robotics, and software engineering more generally. The chapters are all self-contained, include explanations of the core concepts, and finish with a discussion of directions for further work.

Chapters 'Towards Autonomous Robot Evolution', 'Composition, Separation of Roles and Model-Driven Approaches as Enabler of a Robotics Software Ecosystem' and 'Verifiable Autonomy and Responsible Robotics' are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

• Software Engineering
• Software Design
• Software Verification
• Software Testing
• Software Quality Assurance
• Robotics Software
• Software Variability
• Model-Driven Software Design
• Autonomous Systems
• Formal Methods

• Department of Computer Science, University of York, York, UK

  Ana Cavalcanti, Jim Woodcock

• University of Surrey, Guildford, UK

  Brijesh Dongol

• University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

  Rob Hierons

• University of Sunderland, Sunderland, UK

  Jon Timmis

Ana Cavalcanti is Professor of Software Verification at the University of York and Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies, and is working on software engineering issues for robotics like modelling, validation, simulation, and testing. She currently leads the RoboStar research group at the University of York. Her research is on theory and practice of verification and testing for robotics.

Brijesh Dongol is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Surrey. His research is on formal techniques and verification methods for concurrent and real-time systems. This includes concurrent objects, transactional memory and associated correctness conditions; weak memory models; algebraic techniques; and hybrid systems. He leads several projects funded by the EPSRC, research institutions and industrial partners and is a member of the Formal Methods Teaching Committee.


Rob Hierons joined The University of Sheffield in 2018 as a full Professor. His research concerns the automated generation of efficient, systematic test suites on the basis of program code, models or specifications. He is joint Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Software Testing, Verification, and Reliability (STVR) and is a member of the editorial boards of The Computer Journal and Formal Aspects of Computing.

Jon Timmis is Professor of Intelligent and Adaptive Systems at the University of Sunderland, where he is Deputy Vice-Chancellor, and is Visiting Professor at the University of York.  His research focuses on biologically-inspired systems and modelling, with applications in robotic and swarm robotic systems as well as computational biology.  He has commercialized his research into modelling and simulation in the biosciences. He is a former Royal Society-Wolfs on Research Merit Award holder and a Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellow.

Jim Woodcock is Professor of Software Engineering at the University of York, known for his research, teaching, and consultancy in the application of industrial-scale software engineering and formal methods. He is a Chartered Engineer, a fellow of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering, and a member of the London Mathematical Society. His current research is in modelling and reasoning about uncertainty in robotic applications.

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