Arguing Security of Autonomous Robots

Abstract

Autonomous robots are already being used, for example, as tour guides, receptionists, or office-assistants. The proximity to humans and the possibility to physically interact with them highlights the importance of developing secure robot applications. It is crucial to consider security implications to be an important part of the robot application's development process. Adding security later in the application's life-cycle usually leads to high costs, or is not possible due to earlier design decisions. In this work, we present the Robot Application Security Process (RASP) as a lightweight process that enables the development of secure robot applications. Together with RASP we introduce the role of a Security Engineer (SecEng) as an important stakeholder in any robot application development process. RASP enables the SecEng to verify the completeness of his work and allows him to argue about the application's security with other stakeholders. Furthermore, we demonstrate how the RASP supports the SecEng and also other developers in their daily work.