Sketch BDRML

Sketch BDRML is a cross-platform desktop editor application for the Behaviour-Data Relations Modelling Language (BDRML). It runs on Windows, Mac OS and Linux.

I developed the BDRML language as a part of my PhD in swarm robotics. After a successful publication, I acquired two rounds of funding from the University of Bristol to develop an editor for the language.



I designed the application user interface and user experience flow and then led software development teams during a two-stage development process.

The editor allows the user to quickly prototype multi-agent algorithms, helping them to identify how data flows between different system sub-components. The main features of the editor include:

• A drag-and-drop interface for various elements of the BDRML language
• An intuitive way of drawing connections between different system elements using a vector-based and snap-to-grid approach
• The ability to save and load diagrams in a JSON-based file format
• Exporting of diagrams to the PNG image format
• A split view for graphical and textual representation of BDRML diagrams
• A zoom in / out feature to make large diagrams easy to navigate

The editor was presented at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2017) in Vancouver, Canada, as well as at various invited talks at the University of Bristol, UK. An overview presentation can be downloaded here.