Development of a virtual mobile robot laboratory

There is an increasing interest in developing new Mobile Robots because of their applications in a variety of areas. Mobile robots can reach places, which are either inaccessible or unsafe for human beings. TACOM has developed a lab where new mobile robots can be tested. However to save cost and time it is advisable to test robots in a virtual environment before they are tested in a real Lab. The objective of this paper is to explore techniques whereby mobile robots can be tested in a simulated environment. Different techniques have been studied for such simulations and testing in a virtual environment. In particular, State flow and Zed3d software, VRML and Fuzzy Logic approaches have been exploited for this purpose. Different robots, obstacles and terrains have been simulated. It is hoped that such work will prove useful in the study of development and testing of mobile robots.

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