Toward model-based benchmarking of robot components

The results of scientific experiments performed by different groups are rarely directly comparable. Efforts such as the European Robotics League offer to the community, in the form of competitions, well documented and stable benchmarks to assess the performance of existing systems. However, benchmarks can be equally useful at design time: the Plug&Bench Benchmark Meta-model provides robot designers with a valuable addition to their toolkit. Additionally, it enables-with benchmark composition- to predict system performance given the benchmark results of individual components.