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Using the Robot Operating System for Biomimetic Research

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Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems (Living Machines 2017)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 10384))

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Abstract

Biomimetics seeks to reveal the methods by which natural systems solve complex tasks and abstract principles for development of novel technological solutions. If these outcomes are to either explain behaviour, or be applied in commercial settings, they must be verified on robot platforms in natural environments. Yet development and testing of hypothesis in real robots remains sufficiently challenging for many in this highly cross-disciplinary research field that it is often omitted from biomimetic studies. Here we evaluate whether the Robot Operating Systems (ROS) can address this issue taking desert ant navigation as a case study. We demonstrate and discuss both the strengths and weaknesses of the current ROS implementation with regard to the specific needs of biomimetic researchers of varying technical experience, and describe the establishment of our central code repository with user guides to aid novice users.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK

    Alexander Billington, Gabriel Walton, Joseph Whitbread & Michael Mangan

Authors
  1. Alexander Billington
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  2. Gabriel Walton
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  3. Joseph Whitbread
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  4. Michael Mangan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Mangan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Lincoln, Lincoln, United Kingdom

    Michael Mangan

  2. Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA

    Mark Cutkosky

  3. Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain

    Anna Mura

  4. Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain

    Paul F.M.J. Verschure

  5. University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom

    Tony Prescott

  6. Bristol University, Bristol, United Kingdom

    Nathan Lepora

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© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

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Billington, A., Walton, G., Whitbread, J., Mangan, M. (2017). Using the Robot Operating System for Biomimetic Research. In: Mangan, M., Cutkosky, M., Mura, A., Verschure, P., Prescott, T., Lepora, N. (eds) Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems. Living Machines 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10384. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63537-8_44

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63537-8_44

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-63536-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-63537-8

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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