Integration testing for robotic systems

Conventional approaches for the validation of robotic systems include simulations and functional software testing. Although these approaches are interesting, they do not offer coverage information to guide the testing activity. In this sense, the introduction of coverage testing to the validation of mobile robotic systems seems to promise. This paper proposes a integration testing approach for robotic systems in a simulation environment. The approach is composed of test scenarios, constructed based on functional testing, and structural testing towards revealing defects and providing a better systematization of the testing activity in this application domain. The proposed approach focuses on systems developed in ROS, the robot operating system, in which communication can be established through a publish/subscribe interaction schema. The paper provides an example of the way the integration testing approach can be applied to robotic systems. An experimental study conducted with developers of mobile robotic systems evaluated the gains and proved the applicability of the approach to the industry. The results confirmed its advantages for the integration testing of mobile robotic systems. It can check functional behavior (test scenarios), or reach a high structural coverage (coverage criteria), and reveal common defects in mobile robotic systems.