Software architectures for robotic systems: A systematic mapping study

Context: Software architecture related issues are important for robotic systems. Architecture-centric development and evolution of software for robotic systems has been attracting researchers’ attention for more than two decades. Objective: The objective of this work is to systematically identify, taxonomically classify and holistically map the existing solutions, research progress and trends that influence architecture-driven modeling, development and evolution of robotic software. Method: We carried out a Systematic Mapping Study (SMS) to identify and analyze the relevant literature based on 56 peer-reviewed papers. We extract and synthesize the data from selected papers to (i) taxonomically classify the existing research and (ii) systematically map the solutions, frameworks, notations and evaluation methods to highlight the role of software architecture in robotic systems. Results and Conclusions: We have identified eight distinct research themes that support architectural solutions to enable (i) operations, (ii) evolution and (iii) development specific activities of robotic software. The research in this area has progressed from object-oriented to component-based and now to servicedriven robotics representing different architectural generations. The reported solutions have exploited modeldriven, service-oriented and reverse engineering techniques since 2005. An emerging trend is cloud robotics that exploits the foundations of service-driven architectures to support an interconnected web of robots. The results of this SMS facilitate knowledge transfer – benefiting researchers and practitioners – focused on exploiting software architecture to model, develop and evolve robotic systems.