A Realistic approach of robotic behaviour development

Questions to ask when designing, prototyping and producing robotic applications for a workable result

In this lesson, we are going to present the Robot Application Development process from a lead programmer’s perspective: we will review the necessary first steps to take and the preliminary questions to ask in order to get a good idea of both the robotic ecosystem and the business concept so you can handle them realistically before starting the development of the application itself.

We hope that this lesson will help you and your team to structure your process more efficiently, knowing where to put the most effort and which skills are needed throughout all phases of the development.

What you will need

• Client's requirement or need assessment;
• The mandate of a project;
• Sufficient resources for a robotic program;
• A project team dedicated to the creation of robot behaviour suiting the client’s requirements.

What you should know about

At this step, you should know clearly what Pepper and Nao can do, and their basic features.

What you will learn

• Identifying pain points [Project Management; Being pragmatic, having a sensible and practical idea of what can be achieved or expected, asking questions and evaluating difficulties]
• Designing [Project Management; A partial view of designing in a Robot Application Development Process]
• Prototyping [Project Management; A partial view of prototyping in a Robot Application Development Process]

Applicable Use Cases

The process described in this lesson as well as the tips given can be applied to any robotic project, no matter its size or that of the team carrying it out: it can be an internal project for your company or an external project based on various market use cases (such as retail, finance, healthcare, tourism…). It mainly targets a lead programmer in charge of the robotic project, but can also be useful for any team member dedicated to the creation of robotic behavior.