Progress in RoboComp

During the last six years the RoboComp robotics framework has been steadily growing in the number of software components, variety of robots supported and in new solutions provided for the maintenance of large robotics software repositories. In this paper we present recent advances in the formal definition of the RoboComp component model and a new set of tools based on Domain Specific Languages that have been created to simplify the whole development cycle of the components. Prove of the benefits of these tools in development is provided through empirical experiments. Moreover, a new robot simulation tool has been created providing perfect integration with RoboComp and better control over experiments than current existing simulators. The paper also describes a working solution to the important problem of communications middleware independence, which allows users to decide which middleware the components will be compiled with. Our solution has been validated by the integration of Nerve, a novel middleware for critical robotics tasks, in RoboComp. Finally, we provide some tips on the new packaging based distribution method for RoboComp and its benefits.