Run to the Source: The Effective Reproducibility of Robotics Code Repositories (Epub ahead of print)

Abstract

In recent years the robotics community has actively embraced the open paradigm, and research articles are commonly enriched with the inclusion of a source code repository of software. However, the reproducibility of such code is not straightforward, and it may become increasingly difficult with the evolution of software. There is a need for providing not only the source code but also an executable version with all of the necessary library dependencies. A solution based on software containers is presented in this article, with some unique advantages. First, the executable package is automatically generated from the last version of the source code; second, it is archived in the same cloud service that hosts the code repository; third, it integrates seamlessly with the development workflow of the research code; finally, it does not consume any local computing resources from the researcher. The executable code can then be downloaded and run by other users, with the only requirement being installing a specific software for running containers. This article presents the complete workflow, which is then applied to some illustrative examples of source code repositories of articles published at robotics conferences.