Solving the Farmer's Dilemma with FlexBE Using GR(1) Synthesis

This paper presents synthesis tools for the ROS 2 version of the Flexible Behavior Engine (FlexBE). Synthesis reduces the need for extensive testing and validation of hand crafted controllers by using mathematically precise specifications to generate “correct-by-construction” behavior controllers. Our approach builds upon work using the GR(1) (General Reactivity of rank 1) fragment of LTL to synthesize a reactive hierarchical finite state machine that can be directly executed in FlexBE. The presented work expands on previous ROS 1 tools, and extends them to ROS 2 in a way that supports more general specifications that incorporate environmental states. This paper presents an accessible open-source demonstration that serves as a general introduction to these powerful synthesis techniques.