Distributed real-time control service framework for human-robot interaction applications

The fourth industrial revolution has called forth a transformation of how factories and their internal and external components and processes should integrate with each other. The need for fully connected cyber-physical systems is imperative to this vision. In the context of human-robot interaction this creates new exciting possibilities, but also creates challenges at the same time. The real-time requirements of robot control systems, to allow for safe and effective manipulation, have to be given serious consideration. This work develops a concept for a network service framework, which creates a distributed communication graph between systems. Using pre-existing tightly nit components in robot control and human-robot interaction application architecture, a modularized approach is developed, where in components are split up into self-contained units, if possible. The framework was developed in C++ using ZeroMQ, for message passing, and Protocol Buffers for data serialization and deserialization, and, in particular, shows promising behaviour concerning real-time performance.