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HeRo 2.0: a low-cost robot for swarm robotics research

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Abstract

The current state of electronic component miniaturization coupled with the increasing efficiency in hardware and software allow the development of smaller and compact robotic systems. The convenience of using these small, simple, yet capable robots has gathered the research community’s attention towards practical applications of swarm robotics. This paper presents the design of a novel platform for swarm robotics applications that is low cost, easy to assemble using off-the-shelf components, and deeply integrated with the most used robotic framework available today: ROS (Robot Operating System). The robotic platform is entirely open, composed of a 3D printed body and open-source software. We describe its architecture, present its main features, and evaluate its functionalities executing experiments using a couple of robots. Results demonstrate that the proposed mobile robot is capable of performing different swarm tasks, given its small size and reduced cost, being suitable for swarm robotics research and education.

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Notes

  1. HeRo 2.0: https://verlab.github.io/hero_common.

  2. Robot Design CAD: https://a360.co/3lWHiv0.

  3. TCRT5000: www.vishay.com/docs/83760/tcrt5000.pdf.

  4. Tutorial: https://verlab.github.io/hero_common.

  5. Rosserial: http://wiki.ros.org/rosserial.

  6. microROS: https://micro.ros.org.

  7. Docker: https://www.docker.com.

  8. OptiTrack: http://optitrack.com/.

  9. Odometry Comparison: https://youtu.be/9s6Fg20uOpc.

  10. Datasheet: www.espressif.com/sites/default/files/documentation/0a-esp8266ex_datasheet_en.pdf.

  11. GMapping: http://wiki.ros.org/gmapping.

  12. Mapping Performance: https://youtu.be/_RWCCI8BI1s.

  13. Decentralized Coverage: https://youtu.be/KmQXBcXKBtE.

  14. Flocking Behavior: https://youtu.be/u7iioSKtHU8.

  15. Cooperative Transport: https://youtu.be/hAS7FKYkKWQ.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Program in Computer Science, Computer Vision and Robotics Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Paulo Rezeck & Héctor Azpúrua

  2. Instituto Tecnológico Vale, Ouro Preto, MG, Brazil

    Héctor Azpúrua

  3. Computer Vision and Robotics Laboratory Department of Computer Science, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Maurício F. S. Corrêa & Luiz Chaimowicz

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  1. Paulo Rezeck
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  2. Héctor Azpúrua
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  3. Maurício F. S. Corrêa
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  4. Luiz Chaimowicz
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Correspondence to Paulo Rezeck.

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Rezeck, P., Azpúrua, H., Corrêa, M.F.S. et al. HeRo 2.0: a low-cost robot for swarm robotics research. Auton Robot 47, 879–903 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10514-023-10100-0

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