RoboDaemon - a device independent, network-oriented, modular mobile robot controller

We discuss a software environment for multi-robot, multi-platform mobile robot control and simulation. Like others, we have observed that mobile robotics research is greatly facilitated by the availability of a suitable simulator for both vehicle kinematics as well as sensing, and have created an environment that permits this while allowing a large measure of device independence. By using a multiprocessor internet-based architecture, our platform permits multiple users to use a variety of programming interfaces (visual, script-based or various application programming interfaces (API's)) to rapidly prototype methods to control multiple heterogeneous robots both in simulation and in real-world settings. We present an overview of our architecture and discuss its future directions.