Because robotic systems get more complex all the time, developers around the world have, during the last decade, created component-based software frameworks (Orocos, Open-RTM, ROS, OPRoS, SmartSoft) to support the development and reuse of "large grained" pieces of robotics software. This paper introduces the BRICS Component Model (BCM) to provide robotics developers with a set of guidelines, metamodels and tools for structuring as much as possible the development of, both, individual components and componentbased architectures, using one or more of the aforementioned software frameworks at the same time, without introducing any framework-or application-specific details. The BCM is built upon two complementary paradigms: the "5Cs" (separation of concerns between the development aspects of Computation, Communication, Coordination, Configuration and Composition) and the meta-modeling approach from ModelDriven Engineering.
For instance, systematic component development and structured system integration relies on a clear separation of concerns as is also recognized in the BRICS project as the 5Cs REF (computation, communication, configuration, coordination and composition).
The BRICS component model: a model-based development paradigm for complex robotics software systems
SAC '13
Computer Science