ZTL: Lightweight communication patterns for HRI

Patrick Holthaus; Trenton Schulz; Lewis Riches; Claudia Badescu; Farshid Amirabdollahian

doi:10.1145/3757279.3788801

ZTL: Lightweight communication patterns for HRI

Patrick Holthaus
, Trenton Schulz
, Lewis Riches
, Claudia Badescu
, Farshid Amirabdollahian

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

1 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) programmers often struggle with operating older robot hardware due to the short support period provided by manufacturers and difficulties integrating modern software solutions. This paper introduces the ZTL Task Library (ZTL), a lightweight communication framework and protocol designed to decouple robot hardware from the operating platform via socket communication, thereby increasing robot lifetime. We present a task-based communication protocol facilitating the co-design of robot behaviours with non-programming experts. Our approach has been shown across different platforms to effectively mitigate incompatibilities between middlewares, simplifying control and usability, allowing for simultaneous addressing of multiple devices.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	HRI '26: Proceedings of the 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction
Editors	Ilaria Torre, Lynne Baillie, William D. Smart, Maartje De Graaf, Matthew Gombolay
Publisher	ACM Press
Pages	1263-1267
Number of pages	5
ISBN (Electronic)	9798400721281
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3757279.3788801
Publication status	Published - 16 Mar 2026
Event	HRI '26: 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction - Edinburgh, United Kingdom Duration: 16 Mar 2026 → 19 Mar 2026

Conference

Conference	HRI '26: 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	Edinburgh
Period	16/03/26 → 19/03/26

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10.1145/3757279.3788801Licence: CC BY

Final_versionFinal published version, 1.07 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "ZTL: Lightweight communication patterns for HRI",

abstract = "Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) programmers often struggle with operating older robot hardware due to the short support period provided by manufacturers and difficulties integrating modern software solutions. This paper introduces the ZTL Task Library (ZTL), a lightweight communication framework and protocol designed to decouple robot hardware from the operating platform via socket communication, thereby increasing robot lifetime. We present a task-based communication protocol facilitating the co-design of robot behaviours with non-programming experts. Our approach has been shown across different platforms to effectively mitigate incompatibilities between middlewares, simplifying control and usability, allowing for simultaneous addressing of multiple devices.",

author = "Patrick Holthaus and Trenton Schulz and Lewis Riches and Claudia Badescu and Farshid Amirabdollahian",

note = "{\textcopyright} 2026 Owner/Author. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/; HRI '26: 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction ; Conference date: 16-03-2026 Through 19-03-2026",

year = "2026",

month = mar,

day = "16",

doi = "10.1145/3757279.3788801",

language = "English",

pages = "1263--1267",

editor = "Ilaria Torre and Lynne Baillie and Smart, \{William D.\} and Graaf, \{Maartje De\} and Matthew Gombolay",

booktitle = "HRI '26: Proceedings of the 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction",

publisher = "ACM Press",

address = "United States",

}

Holthaus, P, Schulz, T, Riches, L, Badescu, C & Amirabdollahian, F 2026, ZTL: Lightweight communication patterns for HRI. in I Torre, L Baillie, WD Smart, MD Graaf & M Gombolay (eds), HRI '26: Proceedings of the 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. ACM Press, pp. 1263-1267, HRI '26: 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 16/03/26. https://doi.org/10.1145/3757279.3788801

ZTL: Lightweight communication patterns for HRI. / Holthaus, Patrick; Schulz, Trenton; Riches, Lewis et al.
HRI '26: Proceedings of the 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. ed. / Ilaria Torre; Lynne Baillie; William D. Smart; Maartje De Graaf; Matthew Gombolay. ACM Press, 2026. p. 1263-1267.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

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T1 - ZTL: Lightweight communication patterns for HRI

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AU - Badescu, Claudia

AU - Amirabdollahian, Farshid

PY - 2026/3/16

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N2 - Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) programmers often struggle with operating older robot hardware due to the short support period provided by manufacturers and difficulties integrating modern software solutions. This paper introduces the ZTL Task Library (ZTL), a lightweight communication framework and protocol designed to decouple robot hardware from the operating platform via socket communication, thereby increasing robot lifetime. We present a task-based communication protocol facilitating the co-design of robot behaviours with non-programming experts. Our approach has been shown across different platforms to effectively mitigate incompatibilities between middlewares, simplifying control and usability, allowing for simultaneous addressing of multiple devices.

AB - Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) programmers often struggle with operating older robot hardware due to the short support period provided by manufacturers and difficulties integrating modern software solutions. This paper introduces the ZTL Task Library (ZTL), a lightweight communication framework and protocol designed to decouple robot hardware from the operating platform via socket communication, thereby increasing robot lifetime. We present a task-based communication protocol facilitating the co-design of robot behaviours with non-programming experts. Our approach has been shown across different platforms to effectively mitigate incompatibilities between middlewares, simplifying control and usability, allowing for simultaneous addressing of multiple devices.

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DO - 10.1145/3757279.3788801

M3 - Conference contribution

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EP - 1267

BT - HRI '26: Proceedings of the 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction

A2 - Torre, Ilaria

A2 - Baillie, Lynne

A2 - Smart, William D.

A2 - Graaf, Maartje De

A2 - Gombolay, Matthew

PB - ACM Press

T2 - HRI '26: 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction

Y2 - 16 March 2026 through 19 March 2026

ER -

ZTL: Lightweight communication patterns for HRI

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