Pushing Boxes in a Mobile Robot Simulator

This demo proposal presents the implementation of a solution of the problem of pushing boxes in a mobile robot simulator. We solve several boards of the Sokoban game, consisting in pushing boxes in a scenario, from a start configuration to a goal configuration. The game finishes when all boxes are in one the goal positions. The player has some constraints in his actuation capabilities because it can push the boxes but it is not possible to pull them. The restrictions on the actuation capabilities makes the Sokoban game difficult to solve. Our approach to the solution for this problem was implemented in a mobile robot simulator built using a video game engine. The reasons to use a game engine are: to take advantage of its built-in capabilities, like its image rendering and physics engines and to design and test new robot architectures. To validate this work, we will present several examples of the real time solution of the Sokoban game using the developed software system.