Teleworkbench: Validating Robot Programs from Simulation to Prototyping with Minirobots (Demonstration)

Tanoto A, Werner F, Rückert U, Li H. Teleworkbench: Validating Robot Programs from Simulation to Prototyping with Minirobots (Demonstration).This paper describes a Demo showing the role of the Teleworkbench in the validation process of a multi-agent system, e.g., a traffic management system. In the Demo, we show the capability of the Teleworkbench in seamlessly bridging the simulation and experimentation with real robots. During experiments, important information is logged for analysis purpose. Additionally, a graphical user interface enables geographically distributed users to perform some levels of interactivity, e.g., watch the video or command the robots

Teleworkbench: An Analysis Tool for Multi-Robotic Experiments

Tanoto A, Du JL, Witkowski U, Rückert U. Teleworkbench: An Analysis Tool for Multi-Robotic Experiments. In: Proceedings of the IFIP Conference on Biologically Inspired Cooperative Computing (BICC 2006), 19th World Computer Congress (WCC). Santiago, Chile; 2006.This paper presents a tool, one component of the Teleworkbench system, for analyzing experiments in multi-robotics. The proposed tool combines the video taken by a web cam monitoring the field where the experiment runs and some computer generated visual objects representing important events and information as well as robots’ behavior into one interactive video based on MPEG-4 standard. Visualization and data summarization enables the developer to quickly grasp a situation, whereas the possibility of scrolling through the video and selectively activating information helps him analyzing interesting events in depth. Because of the MPEG-4 standard used for the output video, the analysis process can be done in a wide range of platforms. This trait is beneficial for education and research cooperation purposes

Teleworkbench: an analysis tool for multi-robotic experiments

This paper presents a tool, one component of the Teleworkbench system, for analyzing experiments in multi-robotics. The proposed tool combines the video taken by a web cam monitoring the field where the experiment runs and some computer generated visual objects representing important events and information as well as robots’ behavior into one interactive video based on MPEG-4 standard. Visualization and data summarization enables the developer to quickly grasp a situation, whereas the possibility of scrolling through the video and selectively activating information helps him analyzing interesting events in depth. Because of the MPEG-4 standard used for the output video, the analysis process can be done in a wide range of platforms. This trait is beneficial for education and research cooperation purposes.1st IFIP International Conference on Biologically Inspired Cooperative Computing - Robotics and Sensor NetworksRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Teleworkbench: A Remotely-Accessible Robotic Laboratory foe Education

Tanoto A, Witkowski U, Rückert U. Teleworkbench: A Remotely-Accessible Robotic Laboratory foe Education. In: Spring 2007 AAAI Symposium on Robots in AI and CS Education-Robots and Robot Venues: Resources for AI Education. 2007.This paper presents a teleoperated robotic-laboratory named Teleworkbench and its benefit for educational purpose. It also presents briefly three issues that we need to take into consideration to make such a laboratory more effective

Local Navigation Strategies for Multi-Robot Exploration: From Simulation to Experimentation with Mini-Robots

Tanoto A, Rückert U. Local Navigation Strategies for Multi-Robot Exploration: From Simulation to Experimentation with Mini-Robots. In: Procedia Engineering. Vol 41. Elsevier; 2012: 1197-1203

Teleworkbench: A Teleoperated Platform for Multi-Robot Experiments

Tanoto A, Witkowski U, Rückert U. Teleworkbench: A Teleoperated Platform for Multi-Robot Experiments. In: Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Autonomous Minirobots for Research and Edutainment (AMiRE 2005). Awara-Spa, Fukui, JAPAN: Springer-Verlag; 2005.Robot development is a highly complex and interdisciplinary process. It comprises several phases: design, implementation, as well as test and validation to name some of them. In test and validation, simulation is commonly used. However, experiments with real robots still have a very important role since simulations cannot accurately model the real environment and, as a result, produce inconclusive results [1]. Performing robotic experiments, however, is considerably tedious. It is a repetitive process consisting of several steps: setup, execution, data logging, monitoring, and analysis. Moreover, it also requires a lot of resources especially in the case of experiments in multi-robotics. We have designed a system that can ease the tasks of performing experiments with single or multi minirobots, called the Teleworkbench [2]. The aim of the system is to provide a standard environment in which algorithms and programs can be tested and validated using real robots. As they run in a standardized environment, benchmarking in robotics can be achieved. Also there are several reasons to choose minirobots: the small-size, low-complexity, and low-cost to name a few. Moreover, it is easy to scale up developed solutions for minirobots to larger platforms or to scale them down to micro-mechanical systems (MEMS)

Scalable and Flexible Vision-Based Multi-Robot Tracking System

Tanoto A, Li H, Rückert U, Sitte J. Scalable and Flexible Vision-Based Multi-Robot Tracking System. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Intelligent Control (ISIC). IEEE; 2012: 19-24

The Teleworkbench: A Platform for Performing and Comparing Experiments in Robot Navigation

Werner F, Rückert U, Tanoto A, Welzel J. The Teleworkbench: A Platform for Performing and Comparing Experiments in Robot Navigation. In: Proceedings of the Workshop on The Role of Experiments in Robotics Research. 2010.Experiments are essential ingredients of science to compare, validate or refute theories, methodologies, hypotheses and approaches. However, in robotics, the comparison of methods using experiments is difficult because of the variety of robotic platforms and experiment environments. In this paper we describe the Teleworkbench and discuss the role it can take on the quest of creating repeatable and reproducible experiments in robot navigation, obtaining com- parable results as well as evaluating and analysing results. The Teleworkbench can control up to 64 mini-robots simultaneously, log user defined quantities for post-experiment analysis and monitor the experiments via cameras mounted in the ceiling. A web interface makes the Teleworkbench accessible for remotely located users. Thus, the Teleworkbench is a platform that robotic scientists can use in order to evaluate the developed approaches quantitatively and qualitatively as well as to com- pare their methods amongst each other