Cloud Robotics Platforms: Review and Comparative Analysis

Due to the various advantages that the cloud can offer to robots, there has been the recent emergence of the cloud robotics paradigm. Cloud robotics permits robots to unload computing and storage related tasks into the cloud, and as such, robots can be built with smaller on-board computers. The use of cloud-robotics also allows robots to share knowledge within the community over a dedicated cloud space. In order to build-up robots that benefit from the cloud-robotics paradigm, different cloud-robotics platforms have been released during recent years. This paper critically reviews and compares existing cloud robotic platforms in order to provide recommendations on future use and gaps that still need to be addressed. To achieve this, 8 cloud robotic platforms were investigated. Key findings reveal varying underlying architectures and models adopted by these platforms, in addition to different features offered to end-users.