Robotics Software Architecture: Why Physical Safety and Timing Shape Design

Robot software differs from traditional enterprise systems because its decisions directly drive physical machines that operate in unpredictable environments. Architects must therefore balance computational efficiency with safety, deterministic timing, adaptability, and maintainability. Continuous streams of sensor data from many heterogeneous devices require carefully engineered pipelines for timestamping, synchronization, and fusion. Control loops often demand very strict response times, ranging from milliseconds to microseconds, which is far stricter than typical software throughput goals. The article argues that designs must assume failures will happen and include mechanisms to detect, isolate, recover from, or safely stop the system.