Web Standards as Standard Pieces in Robotics
This addresses system integration challenges in robotics by showing web technologies can be practically applied, though it is incremental as it builds on existing web advancements.
The paper tackled the problem of using web technologies for robotics control, which are often avoided due to concerns about speed and uncertainty, by demonstrating that open and closed-loop control can be performed at frequencies between 3Hz and 1kHz over various network topologies, confirming meaningful control is achievable.
Modern robotics often involves the use of web technologies as a means to cope with the complexity of design and operation. Many of these technologies have been formalized into standards, which are often avoided by those in robotics and controls because of a sometimes warranted fear that "the web" is too slow, or too uncertain for meaningful control applications. In this work we argue that while web technologies may not be applicable for all control, they should not be dismissed outright because they can provide critical help with system integration. Web technologies have also advanced significantly over the past decade. We present the details of an application of a web server to perform open and close-loop control (between 3Hz and 1kHz) over a variety of different network topologies. In our study we also consider the impact of a web browser to implement the control of the plant. Our results confirm that meaningful control can be performed using web technologies, and also highlight design choices that can limit their applicability.