# Adaptation Needs in Robotic Systems: Assessing Behavior Trees and Their Enhancements

This repository is the replication package for the paper **“Adaptation Needs in Robotic Systems: Assessing Behavior Trees and Their Enhancements.”** It brings together the literature-search material, extraction workbooks, technical synthesis, questionnaire instrument and responses, author-validation instruments, selected-study bibliography, methodology figure, and interview summary used by the study.

Open `index.html` to browse the package as a website.

## Study scope

The study addresses three research questions:

1. **RQ1:** What adaptation needs characterize robotic systems?
2. **RQ2:** To what extent can classical Behavior Tree features address these adaptation needs, and what limitations emerge?
3. **RQ3:** To what extent do approaches proposed to enhance BTs overcome those limitations, and what new limitations emerge?

The research design has three cumulative cycles: adaptation-need identification, classical-BT limitation analysis, and characterization of BT generation, extension, evolution, and refinement approaches.

## Repository contents

- `index.html`: the single-page replication-package website. The four legacy page names redirect to the relevant section of this page.
- `artifacts/methodology/research-process.png`: the research-process figure linking the three cycles, contributions, and validation activities.
- `artifacts/search/`: targeted search strings for RQ1 and the 44-paper Scopus source list used to identify potential questionnaire invitees.
- `artifacts/data/rq-artifacts.xlsx`: definitions, evidence excerpts, reviewer notes, classical BT limitations, and study mappings.
- `artifacts/data/synthesis.xlsx`: technical characterization of the selected primary studies.
- `artifacts/data/questionnaire-responses-consenting.csv`: the 46 questionnaire records analyzed in the study.
- `artifacts/data/author-validation-responses.xlsx`: 13 anonymous author-validation response records.
- `artifacts/questionnaire/questionnaire-form.pdf`: the complete questionnaire instrument.
- `artifacts/author-validation/`: all 31 customized author-validation forms, plus their shared definitions and acknowledgement pages.
- `artifacts/interviews/interview-summary.md`: the anonymized analytical summary of the six semi-structured interviews.
- The selected-study table on `index.html` and `script.js`: Paper IDs, titles, and DOI or publisher links.

The questionnaire recruitment search covered papers published from 2024 through June 2026 that mentioned Behavior Trees in their titles, abstracts, or keywords. The public source list contains publication titles, DOIs, and links. Email addresses used to contact potential participants are not included.

## Authors

- Mehran Rostamnia
- Ricardo Caldas
- Gianluca Filippone
- Patrizio Pelliccione

Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI), L’Aquila, Italy.

## Citation

Use the included `CITATION.cff` metadata when citing this replication package and cite the associated paper using its bibliographic record.

## Licensing

No separate reuse license is granted with this package. See `LICENSING.md`.