I research, teach, and build software as Senior Systems Faculty in the Robotics Institute and the National Robotics Engineering Center within the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. My research interests lie at the intersection of software engineering, robotics, and program analysis, with a focus on developing and evaluating new languages, tools, and techniques for building, testing, and debugging robotics software.


Selected Publications

ROSInfer: Statically Inferring Behavioral Component Models for ROS-based Robotics Systems, Tobias Dürschmid, Christopher S. Timperley, David Garlan, and Claire Le Goues, in International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE ’24, 2024, (Accepted).
PDF · BibTeX
@inproceedings{rosinfer,
  shorthand = {ICSE'24},
  title = {{ROSInfer: Statically Inferring Behavioral Component Models for ROS-based Robotics Systems}},
  author = {D{\"u}rschmid, Tobias and Timperley, Christopher S. and Garlan, David and {Le Goues}, Claire},
  year = {2024},
  booktitle = {{International Conference on Software Engineering}},
  series = {{ICSE '24}},
  note = {Accepted},
  keywords = {mine,conference,conference-published,industrial,selected}
}

ROSDiscover: Statically Detecting Architecture Misconfigurations in Robotics Systems, Christopher S Timperley, Tobias Dürschmid, Bradley Schmerl, David Garlan, and Claire Le Goues, in International Conference on Software Architecture, ICSA ’22, 2022, pp. 112–123.
PDF · Tool · DOI · BibTeX
@inproceedings{rosdiscover,
  shorthand = {ICSA'22},
  title = {{ROSDiscover: Statically Detecting Architecture Misconfigurations in Robotics Systems}},
  author = {Timperley, Christopher S and D{\"u}rschmid, Tobias and Schmerl, Bradley and Garlan, David and {Le Goues}, Claire},
  year = {2022},
  booktitle = {{International Conference on Software Architecture}},
  series = {{ICSA '22}},
  pages = {112--123},
  doi = {10.1109/ICSA53651.2022.00019},
  keywords = {mine,conference,conference-published,industrial,selected}
}

Mithra: Blackbox Oracle Learning for Cyberphysical Systems, Afsoon Afzal, Claire Le Goues, and Christopher S Timperley, Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. 48, no. 11, pp. 4535–4552, 2022.
PDF · DOI · BibTeX
@article{Mithra,
  shorthand = {Mithra},
  title = {{Mithra: Blackbox Oracle Learning for Cyberphysical Systems}},
  author = {Afzal, Afsoon and {Le Goues}, Claire and Timperley, {Christopher S}},
  year = {2022},
  journal = {{Transactions on Software Engineering}},
  keywords = {mine,journal,journal-published,industrial,selected},
  volume = {48},
  number = {11},
  pages = {4535-4552},
  doi = {10.1109/TSE.2021.3120680}
}

Simulation for Robotics Test Automation: Developer Perspectives, Afsoon Afzal, Deborah S Katz, Claire Le Goues, and Christopher S Timperley, in International Conference on Software Testing, ICST ’21, 2021, pp. 263–274.
PDF · DOI · BibTeX
@inproceedings{icst21devperspectives,
  shorthand = {ICST'21},
  title = {Simulation for Robotics Test Automation: Developer Perspectives},
  author = {Afzal, Afsoon and Katz, {Deborah S} and {Le Goues}, Claire and Timperley, {Christopher S}},
  year = {2021},
  booktitle = {{International Conference on Software Testing}},
  series = {ICST '21},
  pages = {263--274},
  keywords = {mine,conference,conference-published,industrial,selected},
  doi = {10.1109/ICST49551.2021.00036}
}

It Takes a Village To Build a Robot: An Empirical Study of the ROS Ecosystem, Sophia Kolak, Afsoon Afzal, Michael Hilton, Claire Le Goues, and Christopher Steven Timperley, in International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution, ICSME ’20, 2020, pp. 430–440.
PDF · DOI · BibTeX
@inproceedings{icsme20village,
  shorthand = {ICSME'20},
  title = {It Takes a Village To Build a Robot: An Empirical Study of the ROS Ecosystem},
  author = {Kolak, Sophia and Afzal, Afsoon and Hilton, Michael and {Le Goues}, Claire and Timperley, {Christopher Steven}},
  year = {2020},
  booktitle = {{International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution}},
  series = {ICSME '20},
  pages = {430--440},
  keywords = {mine,conference,conference-published,selected},
  doi = {10.1109/ICSME46990.2020.00048}
}

A Study on Challenges of Testing Robotic Systems, Afsoon Afzal, Claire Le Goues, Michael Hilton, and Christopher Steven Timperley, in International Conference on Software Testing, ICST ’20, 2020, pp. 96–107.
PDF · DOI · BibTeX
@inproceedings{icst20robottesting,
  shorthand = {ICST'20},
  title = {A Study on Challenges of Testing Robotic Systems},
  author = {Afzal, Afsoon and {Le Goues}, Claire and Hilton, Michael and Timperley, {Christopher Steven}},
  year = {2020},
  booktitle = {{International Conference on Software Testing}},
  series = {ICST '20},
  pages = {96--107},
  keywords = {mine,conference,conference-published,selected},
  doi = {10.1109/ICST46399.2020.00020}
}

Crashing Simulated Planes is Cheap: Can Simulation Detect Robotics Bugs Early?, Christopher Steven Timperley, Afsoon Afzal, Deborah Katz, Jam Marcos Hernandez, and Claire Le Goues, in International Conference on Software Testing, Validation and Verification, ICST ’18, 2018, pp. 331–342.
PDF · Data · DOI · BibTeX
@inproceedings{icst18crashing,
  title = {Crashing Simulated Planes is Cheap: {C}an Simulation Detect
                    Robotics Bugs Early?},
  author = {Timperley, Christopher Steven and Afzal, Afsoon and Katz, Deborah and Hernandez, Jam Marcos and {Le~Goues}, Claire},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Software Testing, Validation and
                    Verification},
  series = {ICST '18},
  pages = {331--342},
  location = {V{\"{a}}ster{\aa}s, Sweden},
  doi = {10.1109/ICST.2018.00040},
  year = {2018},
  month = apr,
  project = {robots},
  keywords = {selected},
  month_numeric = {4}
}