engineering

Robot as a service

Robot as a service is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Robot as a service rather than just read about it. In short: Robot as a service or robotics as a service (RaaS) is a cloud computing unit that facilitates the seamless integration of robot and embedded devices into Web and cloud computing environment. In terms of service-oriented architecture (SOA), a RaaS unit includes services for performing functionality, a service directory for discovery and publishing, and service clients for user's direct access.

Key takeaways

Robot as a service belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Robot as a service to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Robot as a service from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Robot as a service or robotics as a service (RaaS) is a cloud computing unit that facilitates the seamless integration of robot and embedded devices into Web and cloud computing environment. In terms of service-oriented architecture (SOA), a RaaS unit includes services for performing functionality, a service directory for discovery and publishing, and service clients for user's direct access. The current RaaS implementation facilitates SOAP and RESTful communications between RaaS units and the other cloud computing units. Hardware support and standards are available to support RaaS implementation. Devices Profile for Web Services (DPWS) defines implementation constraints to enable secure web service messaging, discovery, description, and eventing on resource-constrained devices between web services and devices. RaaS can be considered a unit of the internet of things (IoT), internet of intelligent things (IoIT) that deal with intelligent devices that have adequate computing capacity, cyber-physical system (CPS) that is a combination of a large computational and communication core and physical elements that can interact with the physical world, and autonomous decentralized system (ADS) whose components are designed to operate in a loosely coupled manner and data are shared through a content-oriented protocol. The more common usage of the term robot as a service (RaaS) is as a financial model for the purchase and use of a physical industrial or service robot. In a RaaS purchase contract, the buyer is paying for the use of the physical device through a subscription-based contract. RaaS is differentiated from a lease contract in that the original manufacturer continues to own the physical robotic device and carries the machine as an asset on its books. RaaS is becoming popular for many robotics equipment providers as the buyer can purchase the equipment through operating expense budgets rather than through a capital expenditure. The service contract for RaaS requires that the original manufacturer update and maintain the robot in good working order throughout the contract life. All parts and labor for preventative maintenance is also included in the RaaS contract. The original manufacturer may swap out the physical robot with another, equivalent machine at any time. In addition, the original manufacturer may provide remote service, via the Web, to remotely monitor, triage and repair, or recover the system. RaaS takes its name from the software as a service (SaaS) business model, popularized in the enterprise software market.

History The initial design and implementation of applying service-oriented computing in embedded systems and robots was presented in the 49th IFIP 10.4 Workgroups meeting in February 2006. In the initial design, a robot is the service client that looks up the service registry and consumes Web services on remote sites. Evolved from service-oriented robot, robot as a service is an all-in-one SOA unit; that is, the unit includes services for performing functionality, service directory for discovery and publishing, and applications for client's direct access. This all-in-one design gives the robot unit tools and capacity to be a self-contained cloud unit in the cloud computing environment. Based on RaaS concepts, a Visual IoT/Robotics Programming Language Environment (VIPLE) has been developed.

Architecture RaaS follows SOA and is a cloud computing unit. A RaaS unit acts as a service provider, a service broker, and as a service client:

A RaaS cloud unit is a service provider: Each unit hosts a repository of preloaded services. A developer or a client can deploy new services into or remove service from a robot. The services can be used by this robot and can also be shared with other robots. A RaaS cloud contains a set of applications deployed: A developer or client can compose a new application (functionality) based on the services available in the unit and outside the unit. A RaaS unit is a service broker: a client can look up the services and applications available in the unit's directory. A client can search and discover the applications and services deployed on the robot by browsing the directory. The services and applications can be organized in a hierarchy of classes to facilitate the discovery. The main components of a RaaS unit and typical applications and services deployed. RaaS units are designed for the cloud computing environment. The services in RaaS will communicate with the drivers and other operating system components, which further communicate with the devices and other hardware components. The RaaS units can directly communicate with each other through Wi-Fi, if the wireless infrastructure is available or through ad hoc wireless network otherwise. The communication between RaaS and other services in the cloud are through standard service interface WSDL enabled by DPWS or RESTful service overall HTTP. A few prototypes of RaaS have been implemented, which include both Web interface and physical devices. Dependability, including reliability and security are critical in RaaS design. Collaborating RaaS units can be scheduled for redundant execution, backing up each other's operations. The redundant design can also address the instruction-level attack such as code injection and Return Oriented Programming (ROP) attacks. As the redundant RaaS units are independent of each other, instruction-level gadget programming is likely to generate different sequences in different devices. These differences in behaviors can be detected by the collaboration among the RaaS units. The major challenge in designing RaaS is to deal with the diversity of the networks, applications, and the environments or end users. In cloud computing, the network and communication protocols are limited to a few standards such WSDL, SOAP, HTTP, and RESTful architecture. In RaaS, HTTP, SOAP, and WSDL standards and robotics applications are the main design considerations.

Applications RaaS can be used anywhere SOA, cloud computing, IoT, CPS, and ADS are used. One the application in computer science education. RaaS uses existing services to compose different applications at workflow level, which significantly reduce the learning curve of robotics programming.

See also Autonomous decentralized system Cloud robotics Internet of things Service-oriented architecture VIPLE as a service

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Robot as a service

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Robot as a service claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Robot as a service before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Robot as a service ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Robot as a service

In research: Robot as a service appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Robot as a service in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Robot as a service is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics As a service, Robotics, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Robot as a service outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Robot as a service in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Robot as a service means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Robot as a service out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Robot as a service in simple terms?

Why does Robot as a service matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Robot as a service?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Robot as a service.