We have developed a domain specific language for the construction of
robot controllers, Frob (Functional ROBotics). The semantic basis for
Frob is Functional Reactive Programming, or simply FRP, a purely functional
model of continuous time, interactive systems. FRP is built around two
basic abstractions: behaviors, values defined continuously in time,
and events, discrete occurances in time. On this foundation, we have
constructed abstractions specific to the domain of robotics. Frob adds
yet another abstraction: the task, a basic unit of work defined
by a continuous behavior and a terminating event.
This paper examines two interrelated aspects of Frob. First, we study
the design of systems based on FRP and how abstractions defined using
FRP can capture essential domain-specific concepts for systems involving
interaction over time. Second, we demonstrate an application of monads,
used here to implement Frob tasks. By placing our task abstraction in
a monadic framework, we are able to organize task semantics in a modular
way, allowing new capabilities to be added without pervasive changes
to the system.
We present several robot control algorithms specified using Frob.
These programs are clear, succinct, and modular, demonstrating the power
of our approach.
