State Control Using StateChart Diagram and Observer Pattern

Abstract

Statechart diagram models the dynamic nature of a system used for defining different states of an object during its lifetime. States change by events, so statechart diagrams are useful to model a system that reacts to certain events. The industrial robot software application that controls movements of an industrial robot, a kind of reactive systems should provide well-designed state control. In addition, the hardware devices of an industrial robot currently on offer are frequently changed, and the changes on hardware devices require changes on the parts of the relevant industrial robot software application that control the movements. The industrial robot software application thus should be modifiable, so that it can be adapted to fulfill various needs of industries. To tackle these problems, this paper proposes a state control technique using statechart diagram and observer pattern applied to developing an industrial robot software application. Through applying the observer pattern according to state control information captured using statechart diagram, maintainability and reusability of an industrial robot software application were improved.