IoT-aided robotics applications: Technological implications, target domains and open issues

The ongoing revolution of Internet of Things (IoT), together with the growing diffusion of robots in many activities of every day life, makes IoT-aided robotics applications a tangible reality of our upcoming future. Accordingly, new advanced services, based on the interplay between robots and "things", are being conceived in assisting humans. Nevertheless, the path to a mature development of IoT-aided robotics applications requires several pivotal issues to be solved, design methodologies to be consolidated, and strong architectural choices to be discussed. This paper discusses technological implications, open issues, and target applications in the IoT-aided robotics domain. In particular, the present contribution is four-folded. First, it provides a solid state of the art on the main topics related to IoT-aided robotics services: communication networks, robotics applications in distributed and pervasive environments, semantic-oriented approaches to consensus, and network security. Second, it highlights the most important research challenges to be faced. Third, it describes the technological tools available nowadays. Fourth, it summarizes lessons learned to foster a joint scientific investigation among research teams with complementary skills. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.