A Middleware for Ecologies of Robotic Devices

The fields of autonomous robotics and ambient intelligence are converging toward the vision of smart robotic environments, or ubiquitous robotics, in which tasks are performed via the cooperation of many simple networked robotic devices. The concept of Ecology of Physically Embedded Intelligent Systems, or PEIS-Ecology, combines insights from these fields to provide a new solution to building intelligent robots in the service of people. To enable this vision, we need a common communication and cooperation model that allows dynamically assembled adhoc networks of robotic devices, a flexible introspection and configuration model allowing automatic (re)configuration and that can be shared between robotic devices at different scales, ranging from standard mobile robots to tiny networked embedded devices. In this paper we discuss the development of a middleware suitable for ubiquitous robotics in general and PEIS-Ecologies in specific. Our middleware is suitable for building truly ubiquitous robotics applications, in which devices of very different scales and capabilities can cooperate in a uniform way. We discuss the principles and implementation of our middleware, and also point to experimental results that show the viability of this concept.