iRobot AWARE 2.0
| Logiciels |
iRobot's AWARE 2.0 is a software robotic platform developed by iRobot for a range of military robots produced by the company. iRobot has a large base of robots already deployed with the US Army, law enforcement agencies and foreign militaries. iRobot encourages third party developers to build add-ons to the robots. If you want to sell your payloads or technology through iRobot to their customers, you have to integrate your product with AWARE -- and pay the related license fees.
Architecture of iRobot AWARE 2.0 software
There are two versions of the platform:
- An "Integrator version" supports Python scripting as the only means of creating robotic applications -- primarily as a glue code to test a new payload. The version costs less and is targeted at users willing to build quick proof-of-concept applications using simple Python scripts.
- The full version, called Enterprise edition, provides a full-blown C++ development environment aimed at building high-performance, fully-integrated native applications. The development environment is claimed to be the same as that used internally by the iRobot engineering team.
The platform comes with a simulation environment, and is integrated with operator control units (OCU) sold by iRobot. AWARE 2.0 does not seem to have a graphical drag-n-drop development environment.
The platform has a built-in data messaging system designed around a publisher-subscriber model. Interested software modules running somewhere in the onboard network can subscribe to updates coming from a particular publisher, for example, a sensor. The multicasting nature of the messaging system allows building process-level fault-tolerant architectures. The software platform comes with many built-in functions for controlling robotic manipulators, including handling of self-collision avoidance, inverse kinematics, and remote control from an OCU. All other advanced artificial intelligence functions such as a computer vision or autonomous navigation are outside of the scope of AWARE, and provided by external payload modules.
A growing number of companies offer payload modules compatible with AWARE. iRobot runs a third-party developers program aimed at helping interested parties integrate new technologies into the family of military robots (Warrior, PackBot, and SUGV). AWARE platform acts as software glue and a common denominator for multiple hardware and software components built by the third parties.
Unlike other software platform vendors, iRobot offers a clear path to revenues for third-party developers.
The platform has a built-in data messaging system designed around a publisher-subscriber model. Interested software modules running somewhere in the onboard network can subscribe to updates coming from a particular publisher, for example, a sensor. The multicasting nature of the messaging system allows building process-level fault-tolerant architectures. The software platform comes with many built-in functions for controlling robotic manipulators, including handling of self-collision avoidance, inverse kinematics, and remote control from an OCU. All other advanced artificial intelligence functions such as a computer vision or autonomous navigation are outside of the scope of AWARE, and provided by external payload modules.
A growing number of companies offer payload modules compatible with AWARE. iRobot runs a third-party developers program aimed at helping interested parties integrate new technologies into the family of military robots (Warrior, PackBot, and SUGV). AWARE platform acts as software glue and a common denominator for multiple hardware and software components built by the third parties.
Unlike other software platform vendors, iRobot offers a clear path to revenues for third-party developers.
By Michael Somby (
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