Opening the dialog: robotics and the internet

Inter-component communication has received considerable attention by robotic software architects as various frameworks and toolkits have matured. While the resulting software platforms have proven useful for abstracting hardware interfaces and the complex networking issues that are often present in robot deployment scenarios, they typically present users with arduous paths for integrating new hardware and software, while making no allowance for humans as peers on the network. We explore how mature standards and protocols born of the Internet community can be leveraged to empower software designed for robots and sensor networks. Here we present software approaches that facilitate the integration of new hardware devices, software platforms, and humans in ways that are natural and intuitive for each