Hardware-in-the-loop simulation approach for the Robot at Factory Lite competition proposal

Mobile robotic applications are increasing in several areas not only in industries but also service robots. The Industry 4.0 promoted even more the digitalization of factories that opened space for smart-factories implementation. Robotic competitions are a key to improve research and to motivate learning. This paper addresses a new competition proposal, the Robot@Factory Lite, in the scope of the Portuguese Robotics Open. Beyond the competition, a reference robot with all its components is proposed and a simulation environment is also provided. To minimize the gap between the simulation and the real implementation, an Hardware-in-the-loop technique is proposed that allows to control the simulation with a real Arduino board. Results show the same code, and hardware, can control both simulation model and real robot.