[Paper Review] Work in Progress: Enabling robot device discovery through robot device descriptions

Monica Anderson, Chris Crawford+2 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Feb 25, 2013

Modular Robots and Swarm Intelligence5 references3 citations

TL;DR

This paper proposes the Robot Device Interface Specification (RDIS), a domain-specific language that enables automatic discovery and integration of robot devices by describing their interfaces, communication protocols, and mappings to frameworks like ROS and HTML5 via web sockets. The key contribution is a declarative, firmware-embedded device description that automates driver generation and enables dynamic resource discovery across heterogeneous robotics platforms.

ABSTRACT

There is no dearth of new robots that provide both generalized and customized platforms for learning and research. Unfortunately as we attempt to adapt existing software components, we are faced with an explosion of device drivers that interface each hardware platform with existing frameworks. We certainly gain the efficiencies of reusing algorithms and tools developed across platforms but only once the device driver is created. We propose a domain specific language that describes the development and runtime interface of a robot and defines its link to existing frameworks. The Robot Device Interface Specification (RDIS) takes advantage of the internal firmware present on many existing devices by defining the communication mechanism, syntax and semantics in such a way to enable the generation of automatic interface links and resource discovery. We present the current domain model as it relates to differential drive robots as a mechanism to use the RDIS to link described robots to HTML5 via web sockets and ROS (Robot Operating System).

Motivation & Objective

• To address the growing burden of creating custom device drivers for each robot framework combination in robotics research.
• To reduce developer overhead by enabling automatic generation of interface code from a standardized device description.
• To support dynamic device discovery and runtime resource management across multiple robotics frameworks.
• To decouple device semantics from framework-specific implementations using abstract interface abstractions.
• To enable robot manufacturers to embed device descriptions directly in firmware for seamless integration with RDIS-enabled development environments.

Proposed method

• The RDIS defines a formal syntax using JSON and ANTLR-based grammars to describe robot connections, primitives, and interfaces.
• It uses StringTemplate and ANTLR to generate target code from an abstract syntax tree (AST) derived from RDIS specifications.
• The system generates framework-specific outputs, including ROS drivers, command-line controllers, and WebSocket servers.
• Abstract interfaces like 'position2d' are mapped to standard message types (e.g., ROS Twist) via template-based code generation.
• The approach supports multiple threading models and communication protocols, with support for custom message formats like CSV.
• Device discovery is enabled by embedding the RDIS in firmware, allowing development environments to query devices for their supported services.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 Can a declarative, domain-specific language reduce the need for custom device drivers across robotics frameworks?
• RQ2 How can robot device descriptions be structured to enable automatic generation of framework-specific drivers?
• RQ3 To what extent can device discovery be automated through embedded, standardized interface descriptions?
• RQ4 How can mappings between device primitives and high-level framework abstractions be expressed and enforced?
• RQ5 What are the key components of a scalable, extensible device description model for heterogeneous robotics platforms?

Key findings

• The RDIS prototype successfully generated a ROS driver, a command-line controller, and a WebSocket server from a single RDIS specification for a differential drive robot.
• The use of ANTLR and StringTemplate enabled reliable parsing and code generation from a domain-specific grammar.
• The abstract mapping layer allowed a single device description to support multiple frameworks through template-based output generation.
• The approach demonstrated feasibility for automatic driver creation, reducing the need for hand-written, framework-specific code.
• The system supports dynamic discovery by allowing devices to expose their RDIS description via a single firmware command.
• The model supports extensibility, with planned enhancements including kinematic modeling, error handling, and improved threading abstractions.