Architecture modeling and analysis language for designing robotic architectures

In recent times, researchers in robotics have arrived at a consensus that there is no single efficient architecture or framework that satisfies all aspects of robotic system design. A majority of robotic architectures currently in use are developed in-house to meet the specific objectives of the research group. However, these frameworks have been designed in an ad-hoc manner and thus restricts reusability and scalability. In this paper, we propose an architecture description language 'Architecture Modeling and Analysis Language (AMAL)' that homogenizes the framework development process in a formal way. AMAL is a radical approach that enables framework development based on custom requirements or by integrating existing heterogeneous architectural paradigms. The Open Semantics Framework in AMAL facilitates domain knowledge integration and promotes separation of concerns to build complex systems. We also position our approach in the SafeRobots framework, a model-driven software development tool-chain for robotics.