RAPS – Requirements Analysis and Project Specification

CIS548

In keeping with the task-oriented approach presented by Mataric, the RAPS you will prepare for your semester project will be similar to, but somewhat different from those of traditional software engineering.  Instead of starting with a focus on the project you will start with a focus on the end-goal, whether it is the task of the robot or – in the case of teaching projects – the student goals you seek to achieve.

Personas: For those projects which have end-users, form 3-5 descriptions of archetypical users.  Although your personas will have names and descriptions, do NOT use ACTUAL persons as personas, even if your project is oriented toward identifiable people.

Goals: For end-user projects describe the goals of your personas without reference to your proposed project.  For the rest of the projects, describe the chief aim of the project.

Tasks: Describe the tasks your robot will need to achieve. 

Sensors: Delineate the sensors your robot will use for achieving the tasks.

Effectors: Delineate the effectors your robot will use for achieving the tasks.

Behaviors: Delineate the set of behaviors needed to achieve each of the tasks.

Environment: Describe the environment in which your robot will operate.  Specify any special arrangements within the environment to provide a behavioral niche for the robot.

Interaction among behaviors: Describe the specific points of and manner of interaction among the behaviors.

Interaction with environment: Describe the specific points of and manner of interaction between the robot and the environment.

Project design: Describe the design essence of your project.  In what ways does the design express the project’s functionality and enable the robot to achieve accomplish its tasks or enable the personas to meet their goals?

Project structure: Give a schematic description of your project.