N etworking technologies for robotic applications  Vibekananda Dutta  Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering Warsaw University of Technology 00-665 Warszawa, Poland E-mail: vibek@meil.pw.edu.pl  Teresa Zielinska  Institute of Aeronautics and Applied Mechanics Warsaw University of Technology 00-665 Warszawa, Poland E-mail: teresaz@meil.pw.edu.pl  Abstract —   The   ongoing   progress   in   networking   security, together with the growing range of robot applications in many fields of everyday life, makes robotics tangible reality in our near future.   Accordingly,   new advanced   services,   depends   on   the interplay between the robotics and cyber security, are being an important   role   in   robotics   world.   This   paper   addresses technological   implications   of   security   enhancement   to   the Internet   of   Thing   (IoT)   –   aided   robotics   domain,   where networked robots are expected to work in complex environments. The   security   enhancement   suggested   by   the   NIST (National Institute   of   Standards   and   Technology)   creates   a   security template for secure communications over the network are also discussed.  Keywords —   Robots; Security policies;   Robotic applications; Internet of Thing (IoT).  I.   I NTRODUCTION  In   the   field   of safety,   security and   IoT-aided   robotic applications the number of devices involved in Machine-to- Machine (M2M) communication is expected to steadily grow in next few years. Research and applications trends are leading to the appearance of the IoT-aided robotic applications [1]. Tele-operation   of   mobile   robots   requires   wireless communication,   what   increasingly   involves   multi-robot network and complex transmission of heterogeneous data. This   position   paper,   highlights   the   technological implications   including   communication   security   caused   by Internet cloud techniques used in robotic systems. During our recent visit, 2014 IEEE-RAS summer school and workshop on response robotics (Fig. 2 - a), we observed that IoT-aided robotics applications are growing in the cyber- real   world   crossing,   where   humans,   robots   and   security enhancement   interact   in   co-operative   basis.   The   National Security Agency (NSA) has published security specification for   IoT-aided   robotic   applications   to   be   preciously implemented   in   this   complex   cyberphysical   world.   It addresses   three   important   security   features:   (1) communication,   (2) authentication,   and (3) cyber   security policy   development   and   enforcement   [2].   The   main challenges in the wireless robotics, is the integration of the different intelligent capabilities in to an overall system that support all two teleoperation stages (Fig. 1) [3]. Starting from these premises, and with related to IoT-aided robotic applications, this position paper:  a)   envisions possible scenarios: (1) building smart, (2) pervasive, and (3) secure environments.  b)   highlights the need for improvising the key concepts of security, privacy, and trust.  c)   provides a state of the art, with particular refernce to the   following   features:   (1)   communication   networks,   (2) network security, and (3) robotic applications in distributive and persive environments [4].  The following   sections of this paper   are organized as follows: in section 2, the authors give an overview of IoT- aided robotic applications. In section 3, the authors discussed network interfacing for robotic applications. In section 4, feasibility   of   proposed   architectures   in   current   IoT-aided robotic applications is introduced. In section 5, wraps up the discussion. Finally, section 6, gives the conclusion. II.   E NVISAGED   IOT- AIDED ROBOTIC APPLICATIONS  In modern world, IoT-aided robotic applications have been successfully applied in several domains, specifically in rescue robots, assisting robots, health care robots, in industrial plans and in the so called smart areas. Nevertheless, few works are carried out on the interaction between these two fields, likely, robotic applications and IoT-aided domain. However it needs more in depth investigation. Most of the modern robots platforms are equipped with rich sensory sets, complex hardware with advanced computing and communications capabilities. This, make them able to execute complex and coordinated operations. Technology that makes   robots   human-friendly   and   adaptable   to   different scenario is emerging in several robotic applications [5, 6, 7]. The networked and user interfaced robots, such as rescue robots, human assisting robots, health care robots and robots for military applications, have been identified by the U.S.A. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) (in collaboration with Department of Homeland Security - DHS) as   a   class   of   devices   in   which   the   hardware,   software, including security functions must be developed concurrently [8]. Demonstration, test, and evaluation are crucial in this area because of application of many emerging technologies, Fig. 2- b,   c   present’s   examples   of   robots   for   technologically demanding tasks.  *Corrosponding author: Nishtha Kesswani, visiting scholar  Information and Decisions Sciences, Cyber Security Center  California State Univer sity, San Bernardino, CA, USA  E - mail: nishtha@curaj.ac.in
User  Specification of high - level goals  triggering medium to long time  autonomy; e.g., navigation and  multi - robot control  Telecommunications for shot -  time autonomous functions; e.g.,  driving through doorways or  passing through communication  blackout areas. Stage 2: Behaviour level  Stage 1: Communication level  Fig.   1 .   Mobile robots   -   two levels of information procession. Communication concern s the high level within the whole group. Behaviour  (behavioural level)   –   mean local decision making network.  Fig.   2 .   IEEE - RAS workshop in Perth, Australia [9]   –   a. Typical examples of IoT - aided robots: our   laboratory bomb disposal and rescue robot  Seekur Jr [10]   –   b, australian   bomb disposal robot,   Australia [11]   –   c. Both robots can operate fully autonomously   and perform a coordinated  explo ration of the area .  (a)  (b)   (c)
III.   N ETWORK INTERFACING FOR ROBOTIC APPLICATION  A   fundamental   issues   that   researchers   focus   in   the networks and interfaces domain in robotic applications, is the system   integration   when   the   components   use   different Machine-to-Machine   (M2M)   communication   standards.   To this direction are going several EU FP7 research projects [12], such as BETAAS and OPENIOT [13, 14] are focusing: on cloud computing techniques, on security issues, on context aware approaches, and on semantic-oriented design (another examples are RELYONIT [15], ICORE [16], IOT.EST [17], EBBITS [18], and VITRO [19]). On the other hand, with reference to IoT-aided robotic applications several important, not yet answered questions should be dealt with [20]:  a)   to what extent IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6- recent), and Transport Layer Security (TLS) standard can be used to deal with complex robotic systems.  b)   can the semantic of data excahnge over the network be directly embedded at the Media Access Control (MAC) layer, with aims of enforcing security, privacy, and integrity.  c)   robotic   communication   systems   are   extremly heterogeneous, thus deserving further research on   congestion avoidance, reliable routing mechanisms [21], and on efficient real- time handling of the big data amount. The secure networking, allows robots to access a huge amount of data, Transport Layer Security (TLS) is the cryptographic protocol suggested by the NIST for secure communication. TLS is put on the top of traditional protocols like e.g., TCP [22,   23].   About   2010,   the   term   cloud robotics   has   been introduced [24], it is novel paradigm in robotic applications, where robots can take the advantages of the Internet network as resource for massive parallel computation and for almost real time knowledge sharing [25, 26]. In the structure of the mobile robot-Internet interface shown in Fig. 3, the robot subscribes the information from the cloud, and its sensors - including vision; deliver the information to the cloud (they are publishers). In the figure the symbols mean the following:  N   –   Network controller / monitor,  - cloud data buffers / data packages,  - network controller interfaces for publishers,  - network controller interfaces for subscriber,  - lower layer network interfaces,  - lower layer input buffers of the publishers (sensors, vision),  - lower layer output buffer of the subscriber (of the robot,  - higher layer output buffers of the publishers with Quality of Service (QoS) mechanisms,  –   higher   layer   input   buffer   of the subscriber   with Quality of Service (QoS) mechanisms.  The publisher / subscriber module sends the acknowledgement of status information, Quality of Service (QoS) requirement, and   QoS   feedback   to   the   network   monitor   establishing communication   between   Machine-to-Machine   (M2M)   and Machine-to-Cloud (M2C) respectively. IV.   F EASIBILTY OF PROPOSED ARCHITECTURES IN CURRENT   I O T-  AIDED ROBOTIC APPLICATIONS  This position paper cannot conclude without addressing the important   question   if current technologies are mature enough   to   let   sufficient   network   interfaces   in   robotic applications.  Internet  User program,  *Robot Application Programming Interface (API) **Effector /command  Application  of client  Application of  server  Dedicated c ommunication protocol  Robot  Other  sensors  Vision  sensor  Data buffer  Control system  Other control modules  Fig.   3 . Shows the stru cture of   mobile robot -   Internet   interface propose d using  the concept proposed   in [42, 28] and adapted in [31].  N   Network Controller / Monitor  Subscriber Module  Mobile robot  Publisher Module  Sensory system  Publisher Module  Vision system   (a)
The internet is the data storage. In this case, the robots are clients   requesting   the   data,   and   the   internets   are   server providing it data. The data can be different types: (1) motion data, (2) maps, (3) image buffer and so on (Fig. 4-b). On other side, when the internet is the client and robot is the server is used when controlling multi robots, because all the decision and motion strategies are provided in internet cloud (Fig. 4-a). Taking   into account   of above,   the   authors   presented   the features of most current diffused robots (see Table. 1), trying to   address   this   question   with   reference   to   the   different scenarios. Nowadays there are several robots available in the markets designed for a wide spectrum of IoT-aided robotic applications [27, 6]. According to [29], specialized robots are classified to two categories: service robots and field robots, executing supportive task for humans (e.g., domestic, personal mobility assistance, and rescue). The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) [43] expects that nearest future will bring, a rapid development of field robots, what - due to high level of such   robots   complexity and   autonomy   will   stimulate   the development of new communication techniques. Table-1   proposes   an   outlook   on   the   current commercialized robots belonging to both service robots and field robots categories, taking into account type, principal features, network interfacing [44], and application areas. Such information can be explicitly revealed from the references (freely downloaded from the corresponding websites).  T ABLE   I.   R OBOTS ENABLING THE ENVISAGED   I O T   –   AIDED ROBOTIC APPLICATIONS  Type of robots   Model   Description   Network interface   Computation  al Mobility  Applications  WiFi   Ethernet  Humanoid   NAO [32 ]   Support for human -  robot interaction  activities, in wide  range of indoor  environments.  Support ing   both  features  Medium   Health care, Home  REEM [33 ]   Support ing   b oth  features   +   3G  (UMTS)  High   Health   care,   Home,  Industrial  PR2 [34 ]   Support ing   both  features  Medium   Home and Research  Domestic   /  Service  Care - o - bot   3  [35 ]  Assisting   humans   in  their   daily   life  activities and also in  industrials  environments .  Support ing   both  features  High   Health   care,   Home,  Industrial  People B ot  [36 ]  Support ing   both  features  High   Home , Industrial  StockBot [37 ]   Only   supporting  WiFi   features  Medium   Industrial  Field / Ground   Husky [38 ]   General   purpose  robots for both indoor  and   outdoor  environments.   Also  used   for   R   &D  section.  Support ing   both  features  High   R   &D,   Military,  Rescue  Guardian [39 ]   Support ing   both  features  High   R   &D,   Military,  Rescue  Pioneer   3 - AT  [40 ]  Support ing   both  features  Medium   R &D, Military  Seekur [41 ]   Support ing   both  features  High   Military,   Rescue,  bomb disposal  Marine   Kingfisher  [42 ]  Control marine areas.   Support ing   both  features  High   Military, Rescue  Internet  *Motion  commands  *Maps  *Image buffer  Provi di ng data  Application  of server  Application of  client  Dedicated c ommunication protocol  Robot _1  requesting data  Robot_2  requesting data  States/r  esult of  movem  ents  (b)  Fig. 4. General concept of internet architecture: communication medium between  client (Internet) and se rver (Robot)   –   a, communication medium between server  (Internet) and client (Robot)   –   b [46].
V.   D ISCUSSION  This position paper identified the challenges concerning IoT-aided robotic   applications,   with   particular reference (Table-1) to their technological and scientific implications. Basis   on   the   state   of   art   the   following   observations, important for developing the robotic oriented Internet tools were made:  a)   robots are expected to act in complex scenarios (e.g.,   outdoor   environments),   the   short-range communication   methods,   sematic-based   services, information centric networking, and security problems are here significant [20].  b)   the largest challenge for wireless communications over the network are the links quality, when controling by cloud many moving robots [30].  c)   there   is   the need   for   protocol   able   to deliver messages in a secure manner within the secure network in outdoor   sceanrios   with   user-robot   interfacing,   while assuring   a   high   communication   effeciency   with   high transmission and processing speed. Due to hazards in the networks traffic conditions, such requirements is difficult to achieve [45].  d)   it   is   needed   to   investigate   a   secure communication   in   order   to achieve   goals   in   complex scenarios. Information Technology (IT) is required also the introduction   of   specific   netwrok   interfaces   that   cloud indentify untrusted devices with inhibit their actions within the whole system. VI.   C ONCLUSION  In this paper, the authors addressed challenging topics in IoT-aided   robotic   applications:   (1)   communication networks, (2) network interfacing and (3) security policies. Those   problems   with   reference   to   the   traditional communication   networks   with   information   centric architecture are very worth to investigate. In-addition, the redefinition of security   –   primitive’s represents cornerstone  of   the   network   interfacing   techniques   for   IoT-aided robotics-world. 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