A Flexible Infrastructure for the Development of a Robot Companion with Extensible HRI-Capabilities

The development of robot companions with nat ural human-robot interaction (HRI) capabilities is a challeng ing task as it requires incorporating various functionalities. Consequently, a flexible infrastructure for controlling module operation and data exchange between modules is proposed, taking into account insights from software system integration. This is achieved by combining a three-layer control architec ture containing a flexible control component with a powerful communication framework. The use of XML throughout the whole infrastructure facilitates ongoing evolutionary develop ment of the robot companion´s capabilities.