Robots and their Variability -- A Societal Challenge and a Potential Solution

A robot is essentially a real-time, distributed embedded system operating in a physical environment. Often, control and communication paths within the system are tightly coupled to the actual hardware configuration of the robot. Furthermore, the domain contains a high amount of variability on different levels, ranging from hardware, over software to the environment in which the robot is operated. Today, special robots are used in households to perform monotonous and recurring tasks like vacuuming or mowing the lawn. In the future there may be robots that can be configured and programmed for more complicated tasks, like washing dishes or cleaning up or to assist elderly people. Nowadays, programming a robot is a highly complex and challenging task, which can be carried out only by programmers with dedicated background in robotics. Societal acceptance of robots can only be achieved, if they are easy to program. In this paper we present our approach to provide customized programming environments enabling programmers without background knowledge in robotics to specify robot programs. Our solution was realized using product line techniques.