On-board applications development via symbolic user interfaces

Abstract

becerik is a functional language consisting of symbolic commands for managing and composing applications. Application commands consist of symbols that are associated with reading sensor values, computing those values and executing actuator values. It is the result of a co-design of mechatronic functionality and robotic behaviour. The requirements given for mechatronic functionality were those of simple robotics kits that are used in school education or as toys. The requirements given for the behaviour were to provide a reflexive one, consisting of triggering simple computations and actuations from simple sensor values. becerik currently lives as a leJOS application on NXT robots and enables developing simple applications using the standard display and buttons of the NXT brick. In this paper we introduce the symbolic user interfaces of becerik. © 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland.