Service-oriented integration of networked robots with ubiquitous sensors and devices using the semantic Web services technology

In recent years, motivated by the emergence of ubiquitous computing technology, a new class of networked robots - ubiquitous robots - has been introduced. The URC (ubiquitous robotic companion) is our conceptual vision of ubiquitous robot which provides us with the services we need, anytime and anywhere. To realize the vision of URC, it is one of the most important requirements for the robotic systems to support seamlessness of services even though service environments changes. Specifically, it is needed for robotic systems to be interoperable with the sensors and devices in current service environments automatically, rather than statically preprogrammed for them. In this paper, we present SURF (service-oriented ubiquitous robotic framework) which enables automated integration of networked robots into ubiquitous computing environments based on the semantic Web services technology. In SURF approach, we implement interfaces for robots, networked sensors and devices as Web services. And we describe knowledge about them in OWL-S the semantic Web services ontology and register the knowledge to KB, so that a SURF agent can automatically discover required knowledge and compose a feasible service plan for the service environments. And then the agent controls robots, sensors and devices through SOAP the Web services execution protocol according to the service plan.