Taking distributed robotic system research from simulation to the real world often requires the use of small robots that can be deployed and managed in large numbers. This has led to the development of a multitude of these devices, deployed in the thousands by researchers worldwide. This paper looks at the Khepera IV mobile robot, the latest iteration of the Khepera series. This full-featured d...

This paper presents a stereoscopic vision system for the mini-robot Khepera. The vision system performs objects detection by using the stereo disparity and stereo correspondence. The stereoscopic vision system enhances robot’s visual perception ability by grabbing stereo images and analysis 3D objects, while the robot doesn’t need to move. The simple principle of our stereo vision is the less d...

An incremental approach is used to simulate the evolution of neural controllers for robust obstacle-avoidance in a Khepera robot and proves to be more eecient than a direct approach. During a rst evolutionary stage, obstacle-avoidance controllers in medium-light conditions are generated. During a second evolutionary stage, controllers avoiding strongly-lighted regions, where the previously acqu...

In this paper we present neural network modules that are capable of controlling the miniature robot Khepera. As an interesting application we decided to tackle the task of playing golf with the Khepera. Several challenging subtasks have to be fulfilled to perform the complex behaviour needed. Our special focus of interest lies on: building a map, localization within the map, hitting the ball an...

This paper describes the testing tool ”ExmoR” that allows the user to experiment with different control algorithms as map building and a routine to explore the environment. The intention is to give the user the possibility of easy testing the various control algorithms for the Khepera robot without any knowledge about the robot language, the control architecture or other robot details.

A simple easy to implement algorithm is proposed to address wall tracking task of an autonomous robot. The robot should navigate in unknown environments, find the nearest wall, and track it solely based on locally sensed data. The proposed method benefits from coupling fuzzy logic and Q-learning to meet requirements of autonomous navigations. Fuzzy if-then rules provide a reliable decision maki...

This paper describes the technical implementation of the interface between the Matlab RealTime WorkShop c © and the Khepera c © robot operating system. Moreover, it shows how this tool is effective to quickly design, simulate and test controllers for autonomous robot. Finally, we discuss the feasibility of a object detection method based on acquired patterns of infrared sensors data.

We propose to study the efficiency of our mobile robot control architecture — the so-called "trend" architecture, derived from Brooks' subsumption architecture — applied to the locomotion of a group of miniature Khepera robots. In our experimental setup, each robot is equipped with a sophisticated auditory system, allowing it to communicate its position to its near neighbours by means of short ...

We implemented variations on the Self-Organizing Distinctive State Abstraction model for robot state-discretization and task-learning in a Khepera robot. We conclude that hill-climbing as implementd in [5] is detrimental in embodied robots. Because the ultimate goal of developmental systems is intelligent, embodied robots, we believe that implementation in physical robots is an important test o...

In this paper we describe a neural network for reactive and adaptive robot navigation. The network is based on a model of classical and operant conditioning first proposed by Grossberg [3]. The network has been successfully implemented on the real Khepera robot. This work shows the potential of applying self-organizing neural networks to the area of intelligent robotics.