Robotics Middleware: A Comprehensive Literature Survey and Attribute-Based Bibliography

Autonomous robots are complex systems that require the interaction between numerous heterogeneouscomponents (software and hardware). Because of the increase in complexity of roboticapplications and the diverse range of hardware, robotic middleware is designed to manage thecomplexity and heterogeneity of the hardware and applications, promote the integration of newtechnologies, simplify software design, hide the complexity of low-level communication and thesensor heterogeneity of the sensors, improve software quality, reuse robotic software infrastructureacross multiple research efforts, and to reduce production costs. This paper presents a literaturesurvey and attribute-based bibliography of the current state of the art in robotic middleware design.The main aim of the survey is to assist robotic middleware researchers in evaluating thestrengths and weaknesses of current approaches and their appropriateness for their applications.Furthermore, we provide a comprehensive set of appropriate bibliographic references that are classifiedbased on middleware attributes