Cloud Simulation for Continuous Integration and Deployment in Robotics

Continuous Integration and Deployment in the robotics domain is still underutilized when compared to other fields of software development. Also, conventional testing techniques used in CI/CD pipelines are usually not enough to fully test a robotic project in its integrity. In this paper, an analysis is made regarding the usage of CI/CD techniques in robotic related repositories to both verify the veracity of these statements, as well as finding their causes. Additionally, a novel approach in the scope of CI/CD is explored, making use of cloud-based technologies to add additional automated simulation tests to the pipeline and integrate them with ease in the development of robotic software. Finally, the proposed approach is showcased in an industrial application.