Examining Customer - Side Engineering Practices for Robotic Systems , CSER 2008 DeWitt

This reports on the results of a survey conducted on engineers involved in the acquisition of robotic systems from academic, government, and industrial sectors. Respondents indicated their perception of the importance and effectiveness of various types of engineering practices that were employed by these customers in support of their most recent robotic system acquisition. The survey focused on engineering practices from the areas of requirements development, technical management, verification, and validation. Examination of how the opinions and effectiveness of the engineers change over successive experiences give us an indication of what classes of engineering methods are currently being addressed or ignored during the education of the engineers. Ultimately, by examining the responses, we can conclude some areas of engineering that engineers still lack routinely effective methods to help them acquire the right robot to fulfill the organization's need.