The first laboratory of robotics was formed at the Institute of Computer Science in 2002. It was equipped with a table approximately the size of the arena at Robocup in the category of small robots. At first, the laboratory was equipped with 8 Khepera robots with several expansion modules with a radio station. Later two Koala robots were added with expansion modules.
In the year 2006 a new equipment was bought from the fond of development of universities for our laboratory. The leading researcher of this project was prof. RNDr. Jozef Kelemen, DrSc. and co-researcher was doc. Ing. Petr Čermák, Ph.D.
SW Webots 5.0 PRO from the company Cyberbotics was purchased and installed. It allows simulation of robot behavior in the first phase of algorithm design. Furthermore, two platforms/systems of Khepera robots and two Koala from company K-Team were bought. Basic tests of functionality have been performed (Breitenberg algorithm and test programs provided by the manufacturer). We replaced the older nonfunctional models of Khepera I with platform Khepera II.
Platform Koala enables online scanning and analysis of image scenes directly by the robot with the help of Camera KoaPTCam, frame grabber KoaPC104+. The basic unit PC104+ enables processing of image signal with the methods of computer vision and controlling behavior of the robot. For communication a radio ethernet connection with a supervision computer is needed with the help of KoaPC104Eth. In combination with accumulators KoaAccu4 we can provide full autonomy. For pedagogical purposes we can introduce the possibility of education from simulator development over to test on a real robot. In the transfer from the simulator to the real robot we can see the so-called “physicality” of a robot with all the problems.
In 2014 with the resources from the project IT4Innovations eight Khepera IV robots were bought. Those robots from the foundation of robotic equipment in the laboratory of ground units. Robot Khepera IV is equipped with eight infrared sensors on sides and four IR sensors for tracking lines, five ultrasound sensors and colored camera with a resolution of 752×480 pixels on the frequency of 30 frames per second. The processor of Khepera IV has a frequency of 800 MHz. The processor is named ARM Cortex-A8 Processor with C64x Fixed Pint DSP core, which is equipped with a microcontroller for managing peripheries. It has 512 MB of RAM memory, 512 MB Flash memory, which can be expanded up to 4 GB. Khepera can inform us about its state thanks to three programmable RGB LED diodes. One 0,7W speaker with a range of 400 to 20.00Hz. The speaker is not suitable for music, but it is sufficient for working with a robot. Sound input is secured with an integrated microphone. Khepera runs on operating system Linux, so the applications running on it can be written in an arbitrary programming language, however native on-board application is equipped with GNU C/C++ compiler. For communication with Khepera we can use 1x USB 2.0 host (500mA), 1x USB 2.0 device, 802.11 b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0 EDR. Battery 7.4V Lithium Polymer with the capacity of 3400mAh enables Khepera to work approximately for 7 hours, provided that other peripheries are not connected. Our Kheperas can be equipped with a laser sensor for measuring distances, which has more range than IR sensors and its more suitable for use in closed space or uneven terrain. The laser sensor is more suitable than ultrasound sensors that are often unable to deal with random reflections from obstructions. Gripper not only enables Khepera to grip objects of a maximal diameter of 5cm, but also to detect it with the help of IR sensors and measure resistance of gripped material. Other sensors of gripper give information about the position and current of its motor.
Thanks to a larger number of robots, more demanding experiments can be carried out. They can focus on collective behavior, coordination, cooperation, pack algorithms and so on.
In the lab two humanoid robots can be found as well.
