  Engineering the software development process in robotics is one of the basic
necessities towards industrial-strength service robotic systems. A major
challenge is to make the step from code-driven to model-driven systems. This is
essential to replace hand-crafted single-unit systems by systems composed out
of components with explicitly stated properties. Furthermore, this fosters
reuse by separating robotics knowledge from short-cycled implementational
technologies. Altogether, this is one but important step towards "able" robots.
This paper reports on a model-driven development process for robotic systems.
The process consists of a robotics metamodel with first explications of
non-functional properties. A model-driven toolchain based on Eclipse provides
the model transformation and code generation steps. It also provides design
time analysis of resource parameters (e.g. schedulability analysis of realtime
tasks) as a first step towards overall resource awareness in the development of
integrated robotic systems. The overall approach is underpinned by several real
world scenarios.
