From Teleo-Reactive specifications to architectural components: A model-driven approach

The Teleo-Reactive approach designed by N.J. Nilsson offers a high-level programming model that permits the development of reactive systems, such as robotic vehicles. Teleo-Reactive programs are written in a manner that allows engineers to define the behaviour of the system while taking into account goals and changes in the state of the environment. This article presents a systematic approach that makes it possible to derive architectural models, with structural descriptions and behaviour, from Teleo-Reactive Programs. The development of reactive systems can therefore benefit significantly from a combination of two approaches: (1) the Teleo-Reactive approach, which is oriented towards a description of the system from the standpoint of the goals identified and the state of the environment and (2) the architectural approach, which is oriented towards the design of component-based software, in which decisions are conditioned by the need to reuse already tested solutions. The integration of this work into a development environment that allows code to be generated via model transformations opens up new possibilities in the development of this type of systems. The proposal is validated through a case study that is representative of the domain, and a survey carried out with post-graduate students.

► Teleo-Reactive specifications can be transformed into architectural descriptions. ► Components plus state machines are enough to interpret the semantics of Teleo-Reactive programs. ► Postgraduated students find very useful the use of a tool that enables code generation from Teleo-Reactive programs.