Robots Standards and Reference Architectures

The objective of the RoSta - Robots Standards and Reference Architectures was to proactively take the initiative on the definition of formal standards and the establishment of de facto standards in the field of robotics, especially service robotics. The proposal did not aim at a broad coverage of topics, which might lend themselves towards a standardisation. Rather it was proposed to take the initiative in the formulation of standards in a very few, selected key topics which had the highest possible impact. These topics are at the core of robotics research and development, and therefore have the potential to form the root of a whole chain of standard defining activities going far beyond the specific activities proposed here. More specifically the technological objectives of this proposal are to coordinate a set of actions initiating and preparing a set of standard defining activities on the following topics of advanced robotics: 1. Creation of a glossary/ontology for mobile manipulation and service robots 2. Specification of a reference architecture for mobile manipulation and service robots 3. Specification of a middleware for mobile manipulation and service robots 4. Formulation of benchmarks (of components, methods, middleware and architectures) for mobile manipulation and service robots