Component-based robotic engineering (Part I) [Tutorial]

This article is the first of a two-part series intended as an introduction to component-based software engineering (CBSE) in robotics. In this tutorial, we regard a component as a piece of software that implements robotic functionality (e.g., path planning). The focus of this article is on design principles and implementation guidelines that enable the development of reusable and maintainable software-building blocks, which can be assembled to build robotic applications.