3D Simulator with hardware-in-the-loop capability for the micromouse competition

Robotics competitions are a way to challenge researchers, roboticists and enthusiastic to address robot applications. One of the well-known international competition is the Micromouse where the fastest mobile robot to solve a maze is the winner. There are several topics addressed in this competition such as robot prototyping, control, electronics, path planning, optimization, among others while keeping the size of the robot as small as possible. A simulation can be used to speed-up the development and testing algorithms but faces the gap between a simulation and reality, specially in the dynamics behaviour. There are some simulation environments that allow to simulate the Micromouse competition, but in this paper, an Hardware-in-the-loop simulator tool is presented where the simulated robot is controlled by the same microcontroller used by the robot. By this way, the developed algorithms are tested and validated with the limitations and constraints presented in the real hardware, such as memory and processing capabilities. The robot dynamics, the slippage of the wheels, the friction and the 3D visualization are present in the simulator. The presented results show that the same code and hardware controlling the simulated and the real robot identically.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Micromouse 3D simulator with dynamics capability: a unity environment approach

The micromouse competition has been gaining prominence in the robotic atmosphere, due to the challenging and multidisciplinary characteristics provided by the teams’ duels, being a gateway for those who intend to deepen their studies in autonomous robotics. In this context, this paper presents a realistic micromouse simulator developed with Unity software, a widely game engine with dynamics and 3D development platform used. The developed simulator has hardware-in-the-loop capabilities, aims to be simple to use, it can be customizable, and designed to be as similar as possible to the real robot configurations. In this way, the proposed simulator requires few modifications to port the microcontroller code to a real robot. Therefore, the framework presented in this work allows the user to simulate the development of new algorithm strategies dedicated to competition and also hardware updates. The simulation supports several mazes, from previous competitions and has the possibility to add different mazes elaborated by the user. Thus, the features and functionality of the simulator can serve to accelerate the project’s development of the beginning and advanced competitors, using real models to reduce the gap between the mouse robot behavior in the simulation and the reality. The developed simulation environment is available to the community. © 2021, The Author(s).This work has been supported by FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Projects UIDB/05757/2020 and UIDB/50014/2020.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

UnimouseSim: a real-time mobile robot simulator with hardware-in-the-loop support for the micromouse contest

Mestrado de dupla diplomação com a UTFPR - Universidade Tecnológica Federal do ParanáMobile robots are applied to various industrial contexts, performing repetitive and highperformance tasks. One way of generating interest in the study of robotics in this context is through robotics competitions. The aim of this work is the development of a 3D mobile robotics simulator with hardware-in-the-loop capabilities. It includes developing models for standard components, such as time-of-flight sensors, wheel encoders, and direct current motors. The simulator interacts with development boards, programmed through Arduino-compatible libraries for communication with each robot component. By having the microcontrollers process each sensor’s output and determine the appropriate motor commands, the microcontroller’s limitations are present even during the simulation. The simulator contains different environments, where users have to complete challenges that require sensor data to be interpreted and motor commands to be calculated for different purposes, namely following walls, controlling the robot speed, and developing algorithms for completing the micromouse competition. A modification to the flood fill algorithm, commonly used in the micromouse competition, was proposed and analysed. It targets robots with a simple movement set, unable to perform turns while maintaining linear speed. The simulator was used in the RoboSTEM hackathon, where students were presented with the challenge environments and developed their solutions. It provided insights about the problems they were asked to solve and the simulator software itself.A robótica móvel é aplicada a diferentes contextos industriais, executando tarefas repetitivas e de alta performance. Uma forma de gerar interesse no estudo da robótica é por meio de competições. O objetivo deste trabalho é o desenvolvimento de um simulador 3D de robótica com hardware-in-the-loop. Foi feito o desenvolvimento de components comumente utilizados nos robôs, como sensores time-of-flight, encoders e motores de corrente contínua. A intereção com o simulador é feita por placas de desenvolvimento programadas por bibliotecas compatíveis com o ambiente Arduino, específicas para cada componente. Sendo o microcontrolador responsável por processar as medições dos esnsores e determinar o comando apropriado para os motores, as limitações de memória e poder de processamento dos microcontroladores se fazem presentes mesmo no ambiente de simulação. O simulador contém diferentes ambientes, em que o tulizador deve completar desafios que requerem a utilização dos sensores e atuadores para dieferentes fins, nomeadamnete o seguimento de paredes, controlo de velocidade e completar a competição do micromouse. Foi proposta e analizada uma modificação ao algorítmo flood fill, comumente usado na competição do micromouse, que visa robôs com um conjunto de movimento limitado, inaptos a fazer curvas enquanto mantêm velocidade linear. O simulador foi utilizado no hackathon RoboSTEM, em que os diferentes desafios foram apresentados a estudantes, e as soluções elaboradas por eles continham observações imporotantes sobre os problemas apresentados e sobre o simulador em si

Development of an autonomous mobile robot with planning and location in a structured environment

Mestrado de dupla diplomação com a UTFPR - Universidade Tecnológica Federal do ParanáWith the advance of technology mobile robots have been increasingly applied in the industry, performing repetitive work with high performance, and in environments that pose risks to human health. The present work plans and develops a mobile robot platform for the micromouse competition. The micromouse consists of a small autonomous mobile robot that, when placed in an unknown labyrinth, is able to map it, search for the best path between the starting point and the goal and travel it in the shortest possible time. To accomplish these tasks, the robot must be able to self-locate, map the maze as it traverses it and plan paths based on the map obtained. The developed self-localization method is based on the odometry, the laser sensors present in the robot and on a previous knowledge of the start point and the configuration of the environment. Several methodologies of locomotion in unknown environment and route planning are analyzed in order to obtain the combination with the best performance. In order to verify the results, the present work is developed in real environment, in 3D simulation and also with a hardware in the loop capability. Labyrinths from previous competitions are used as basis for comparing methodologies and validating results. At the end it presents the algorithm capable of fulfilling all the requirements of the micromouse competition together with the results of its evaluation run.Com o avanço da tecnologia, os robôs móveis têm sido cada vez mais aplicados na indústria, realizando trabalhos repetitivos com alto desempenho e em ambientes que expõem riscos à saúde humana. O presente trabalho planeja e desenvolve um robô móvel para a competição micromouse. O micromouse consiste em um pequeno robô autônomo que, ao ser colocado em um labirinto desconhecido, é capaz de mapeá-lo, procurar o melhor caminho entre o ponto de partida e o objetivo, e percorrê-lo no menor tempo possível. Para realizar estas tarefas, o robô deve ser capaz de se auto-localizar, mapear o labirinto enquanto o percorre e planejar caminhos com base no mapa obtido. O método de auto-localização desenvolvido baseia-se na odometria, nos sensores a laser presentes no robô e em um prévio conhecimento do ponto de início e da configuração do ambiente. Diversas metodologias de locomoção em ambiente desconhecido e planejamento de rotas são analisadas buscando-se obter a combinação com o melhor desempenho. Para averiguação de resultados o presente trabalho desenvolve-se em ambiente real e em simulação 3D com hardware in the loop. Labirintos de competições anteriores são utilizados de base para o comparativo de metodologias e validação de resultados. Ao final apresenta-se o algoritmo capaz de cumprir todas as exigências da competição micromouse juntamente com os resultados em sua corrida de avaliação

A realistic simulation environment as a teaching aid in educational robotics

The experimental component is an essential method in Engineering education. Sometimes the availability of laboratories and components is compromised, and the COVID-19 pandemic worsened the situation. Resorting to an accurate simulation seems to help this process by allowing students to develop the work, program, test, and validate it. Moreover, it lowers the development time and cost of the prototyping stages of a robotics project. As a multidisciplinary area, robotics requires simulation environments with essential characteristics, such as dynamics, connection to hardware (embedded systems), and other applications. Thus, this paper presents the Simulation environment of SimTwo, emphasizing previous publications with models of sensors, actuators, and simulation scenes. The simulator can be used for free, and the source code is available to the community. Proposed scenes and examples can inspire the development of other simulation scenes to be used in electrical and mechanical Engineering projects. © 2022 IEEE.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support through national funds FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) to CeDRI (UIDB/05757/2020 and UIDP/05757/2020) and SusTEC (LA/P/0007/2021). Thadeu Brito was supported by FCT PhD grant SFRH/BD/08598/2020 and Joao Braun received the ˜ support of a fellowship from ”la Caixa” Foundation (ID 100010434) with code LCF/BQ/DI20/11780028.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Systematic mapping literature review of mobile robotics competitions

This paper presents a systematic mapping literature review about the mobile robotics competitions that took place over the last few decades in order to obtain an overview of the main objectives, target public, challenges, technologies used and final application area to show how these competitions have been contributing to education. In the review we found 673 papers from 5 different databases and at the end of the process, 75 papers were classified to extract all the relevant information using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method. More than 50 mobile robotics competitions were found and it was possible to analyze most of the competitions in detail in order to answer the research questions, finding the main goals, target public, challenges, technologies and application area, mainly in education.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Robot@factory lite: an educational approach for the competition with simulated and real environment

Teaching based on challenges and competitions is one of the most exciting and promising methods for students. In this paper, a competition of the Portuguese Robotics Open is addressed and a solution is proposed. The Robot@Factory Lite is a new challenge and accepts participants from secondary schools (Rookie) and universities. The concepts of simulation, hardware-in-the-loop and timed finite state machine are presented and validated in the real robot prototype. The aim of this paper is to disseminate the developed solution in order to attract more students to STEM educational program.This work is financed by the ERDF - European Regional Development Fund through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation- COMPETE 2020 Programme within project (POCI-01-0145-FEDER- 006961), and by National Funds through the FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) as part of project UID /EEA/50014/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mobile Robotics

The book is a collection of ten scholarly articles and reports of experiences and perceptions concerning pedagogical practices with mobile robotics.“This work is funded by CIEd – Research Centre on Education, project UID/CED/01661/2019, Institute of Education, University of Minho, through national funds of FCT/MCTES-PT.

Development of a small robot prototype for educational purposes

The project consisted of simulating an Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) system and creating a model of an AGV that will serve as a teaching kit for future generations. The simulation was performed in SIMTWO, a realistic robotics simulator. Three simulations were built of increasing complexity starting from the simple line movements to AGV systems. It was plotted in each simulation the most important graphs to present the reader and explain what has happened. Moreover CAD files were created of the AGV using 3D printing and assembled. Then, a software that runs on the Arduino, was developed, and it uses a six-byte combination of symbols and numbers to control the AGV.O projecto consistiu na simulação de um sistema de Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) e na criação de um modelo de AGV que servirá como kit de ensino para as gerações futuras. A simulação foi feita em SIMTWO, um simulador robótico no mesmo, foram feitas três simulações de complexidade crescente a partir dos simples movimentos de linha para sistemas AGV. Foi traçado em cada simulação os gráficos mais importantes para apresentar o leitor e explicar o que aconteceu. Além disso, foram criados ficheiros CAD para o modelo AGV e criados utilizando a impressão e montagem 3D. Estes, um programa que corre no Arduino, foi concebido, e utiliza uma combinação de seis bytes de símbolos e números para controlar o AGV