Automatic code generation for actuator interfacing from a declarative specification

Common software design practices use object-oriented (OO) frameworks that structure software in terms of objects, classes, and packages; designers then create programs by inheritance and composition of classes and objects. Operational software components for advanced robotics (OSCAR) is one such framework for robot control software with abstractions for generalized kinematics, dynamics, performance criteria, decision making, and hardware interfacing. Even with OSCAR, writing new programs still requires a significant amount of manual labor. Feature-oriented programming (FOP) is method for software design that models and specifies programs in terms of features, where a feature encapsulates the common design decisions that occur in a domain. A set of features then forms a domain model for a product line architecture. Product variants in this product line can then be generated from a declarative specification. FOP and related technologies are emerging software engineering techniques for automatically generating programs. Our research applies FOP to robot controller software. As an example, the domain of hardware interfacing is analyzed and 41 features identified. A GUI for specifying and generating programs is presented as well. Analysis of features shows 200 possible different programs could be generated.