HERM: Heterogeneous nEtwork-based Robot Middleware

On developing modern robot systems, intellectual robots can be designed as multiple modules, where the module means the autonomous hardware units performing robot specific tasks. Further, each module can be connected with non-unified network interfaces due to a heterogeneous feature of robot system. In this manner, one of technical challenges is interoperability to support stable and effective communication between heterogeneous network interfaces. Focusing on this issue, this paper proposes a middleware named HERM (heterogeneous network-based robot middleware). HERM is divided into three layers; (i) network interface layer, which abstracts various heterogeneous network interfaces as logical channels, (ii) network adaptation layer, which provides addressing strategies, module discovery, and routing service for communication between modules, and (iii) application support layer, which manages robot applications and transforms application data into a standard format for transmitting over a network. By this layered design, HERM provides standardized interfaces to control other modules over heterogeneous network interfaces and facilitates integration of different module which constitute a robot system. The results of implementation and case study show that HERM is suitable for a module-based robot.