Development of an OpenGL based multi-robot simulating platform

Simulating platform plays a crucial role in multi-robot research, as a tool to quickly and efficiently test new concepts, strategies, and algorithms. In this paper, OpenGL and Visual C++ based modeling method has been discussed in detail to establish a platform for the 3D simulating of multi-link mobile robots and their collaboration. The cooperation strategies, the control methods and the communication mechanisms of multi-robot system can be explored and verified by this platform. A planetary robot system is used to verify the validity of the developed platform. The effectiveness and the practicability of the platform are successfully demonstrated by a four-robot motion coordination simulating results.