Organizing Intermodular Communication for Heterogeneous Modular Mobile Robot

摘要

The paper proposes an approach to intermodular communication method's specification for heterogeneous modular mobile robot based on principles of ROS (Robotic Operation System). One of key features of this specification is accounting for structure of modular robot's control system built on full functionality principle. The full functionality of a mechatronic device is the ability to perform its goal function using only its own facilities for executing instructions from an external control system. Consequently, every module is a fully-functional electronic or mechatronic device with its own control system, including all required components: sensors, computing modules and drives. As modules' computing devices are usually microcontrollers or other embedded computers which are very restricted in computing power, using ROS in every module is complicated and is not efficient. Proposed specification use ZeroMQ library combined with UDP protocol, which made it possible to implement specification for embedded devices. Rationale behind the choice of type and topology of communication networks is presented. Requirements for APIs (application programming interfaces) of modules of different types are formulated. The results of an experimental study of the developed specification of the method of intermodular information interaction on the operating model of a heterogeneous modular mobile robot are presented.