The lab owns 14 Pioneer robots. These include 9 Pioneer 2 DX robots, 2 Pioneer 1S robots, 2 Pioneer 1 AT robots, and 1 Pioneer 2 AT robot. Pioneers are sold by Mobile Robots, Inc.
The Pioneer 2 is differentially steered, has 16 sonar sensors around its 50x50cm body, and contains a Pentium computer running Linux. All our robots are equipped with 802.11 wireless ethernet, a camera/framegrabber and a sound card. Some also carry a SICK laser scanner, bumpers and grippers.
The Pioneer 1 is differentially steered, and has 7 front and side facing sonars. The AT version has fat tires for outdoor use. Our Pioneer 1 ATs carry a lab-built PC104 computer running QNX, with wireless ethernet and Novatel GPS.
Our large collection of pioneers is used to investigate methods for synthesis and analysis of algorithms that enable cooperative behavior. Through both homogenous and hetrogenous teams of the robots a number of interesting and open research questions can be addressed. Certain tasks require more than a single robot, and our large number puts us in a unique position to tackle fundamental problems related to these tasks.
