AE-Sim: simulating intelligent robots in intelligent environments

Research in autonomous robotics relies on simulators for two main reasons: simulators provide support for the fast prototyping of software algorithm, and they often are a "surrogate" in multi-robot systems when it is not feasible to build a whole robot team to carry out research on coordinated/cooperative behaviours. This paper describes AE-Sim, a simulator which we developed to emulate the main features of our "artificial ecosystem" approach, in which robots are thought of as mobile units within an intelligent environment where they coexist and co-operate with plenty of fixed, intelligent devices that are assigned different roles: helping the robot to localize itself, controlling automated doors and elevators, detecting emergency situations, etc