Khepera III


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Introduction

Khepera III provides features never seen before on a mini-robot

The new generation of Khepera is still able to move on a tabletop but it is also designed to move on your lab floor. Rough floor surfaces, carpets, and even doorsteps are not a problem for the Khepera III. It is the perfect solution for real world swarm robotics experiments.

The new Khepera comes from now on with the Korebot 2 board included. With its extension bus any KoreBot extension can be plugged on top of the robot. The bus specification is fully open and available to enable custom extension developments for users.

Khepera III Architecture

The Khepera III architecture provides exceptional modularity. As any K-Team robot, the Khepera III is using an extension bus system for nearly unlimited configurations.

The robot base can be used with or without a KoreBot II board. Using the KoreBot II, it features a standard embedded Linux Operating System for quick and easy autonomous application development. Without the KoreBot II, the robot can be remotely operated, as the previous Kheperas, it is easily interfaced with any Personal Computer. Remote operation programs can be written with Matlab, LabView, or with any programming language supporting serial port communication.

The robot base includes an array of 9 Infrared Sensors for obstacle detection as well as 5 Ultrasonic Sensors for long range object detection. It also proposes an optional front pair of ground Infrared Sensors for line following and table edge detection. The robot motor blocks are Swiss made quality mechanical parts, using very high quality DC motors for efficiency and accuracy. The swappable battery pack system provides an unique solution for almost continuous experiments, as an empty battery can be replaced in a couple of seconds.

Trough the KoreBot II, the robot is also able to host standard Compact Flash extension cards, supporting WiFi, Bluetooth, extra storage space, and many others.

Khepera III Embedded Linux Support

With the KoreBot II, the Khepera III is able to embed a complete standard Linux Operating System. It provides a well known standard C/C++ environment for application developments. Almost any existing library can be easily ported on the Khepera III, allowing the development of portable embedded algorithms and applications.

KoreBot II GNU C/C++ cross-compiler provides a powerful standard tool for complex code compilation and conditional build. It also supports all the standard C library functions and almost all the other Posix libraries.

Designed for mobile robotics, KoreBot II fits the needs of OEM developers of handheld devices: at the size of a credit card, KoreBot II is a powerful embedded platform based on the gumstix Verdex PRO with an XScale processor. KoreBot II extends the same type of functionality and performance found in the latest generation consumer PDA devices to the industrial market.

Ready-to-run, extremely compact, but flexible for expansion and customization for customer application needs, KoreBot II provides the starting point for new designs and comes complete with all the hardware and software needed to start development including its Linux operating system.

The Khepera III is the new standard tool for robotic experiments and demonstrations such as:

  • Navigation
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Multi-Agents System
  • Control
  • Collective Behavior
  • Real-Time Programming
  • Advanced Electronics Demonstration
  • More examples in this list of papers