ViRAT: An advanced multi-robots platform

In this paper we present the architecture of ViRAT (Virtual Reality for Advanced Tele-operation), the hardware-software platform we developed to support researches and studies dealing with multi-robotics. The achieved architecture is multi-purposes and as such, allows a wide spectrum of operation modes ranging from full tele-operated controls to full autonomous exploitation. From the hardware point of view, the platform offers the possibility to integrate heterogeneous robots having different mobility (wheeled, Humanoids, etc) as well as embedded sensing capabilities (video, laser-scanner, IMU, etc.). From the software side, the developed architecture is modular for more flexibility and adaptability: it includes human-robots interfaces (HRI) bricks, together with supervision and low/high level controls. After presenting the architecture of the ViRAT platform, we give some examples and some use cases to illustrate the performances of ViRAT and the easiness of developing around it.