Development of a cross-platform application for controlling a robotic complex using Flutter

The article provides a brief analysis of approaches to the development of process control programs. The main ones are native applications, web applications, and cross-platform applications. Their main advantages, disadvantages, application and development features are revealed. The description of the Flutter cross-platform technology used in the development of control systems for a robotic complex is presented, including its architecture, the features of the Dart programming language, and the difficulties encountered in implementing program functions related to ensuring software operability on various operating systems. The Flutter framework supports programming for Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, and Android operating systems, as well as for web applications. The application development methodology is presented using the example of a robotic complex with several robots connected to a controller based on an Arduino Mega board and various controls. The structure of the robotics complex and the developed program is described, the appearance of the program on various platforms and a brief description of its operation are given. The issue of user rights management with authentication directly on the controller is considered separately, which allows user authentication on several types of devices. The features of the implementation of cross-platform functions related to the simultaneous use of the dart:io and dart:html libraries in various situations are given using the example of working with a serial port. Algorithms of these processes and justifications of their application are formed. Based on the analysis of this and previous works, the advantages and disadvantages of such development environments as Visual Basic, MIT App Inventor, ASP.Net, MAUI/Xamarin, Flutter, identified during the creation of the software package are presented.