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Robot Floor Cleaner - Architectural Considerations

publish date: 2026/06/11 07:14:55.663755 UTC

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A robot floor cleaner must clean relatively clear spaces such as corridors. It must sense walls and obstructions, navigate autonomously, and avoid getting stuck. If safety is the most critical non-functional requirement (to avoid damaging the environment or injuring people), what architectural strategy should be applied?

Distribute safety logic across all components so every component shares responsibility for detecting hazards

Use the largest possible components to maximise performance at the expense of safety isolation

Locate all safety-related operations - such as obstacle detection, emergency stop, and collision avoidance - in a single dedicated component or a small number of components, so that safety validation is straightforward and a protection system can safely shut down the robot on failure

Use a purely layered architecture with safety checking only in the topmost layer

Correct Answer

Explanation

When safety is the critical requirement, the architectural strategy is to concentrate all safety-related operations in a single component or a small number of components. This reduces the costs and problems of safety validation and makes it possible to provide related protection systems that can safely shut down the system in the event of failure. For the robot cleaner, this means the obstacle detection, emergency stop, and collision avoidance logic should be isolated in a dedicated safety component.

Reference

Software Engineering, Ian Sommerville, 10th edition

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