Robots in the loop: supporting an incremental simulation-based design process

This paper presents the results of applying an incremental simulation-based design process to study a robotic convoy system. Robot-in-the-loop simulation, as a major step in this process, allows the system to be measured with combined robot models and real robots. This capability effectively bridges the gap between conventional simulation where models are used and real system experiment where real robots are used. For each step in this incremental process, the simulation/experiment setup is described. The measurement data are then presented and compared. These experiments and results demonstrate the capabilities of robot-in-the-loop simulation and justify the effectiveness of using the incremental simulation-based design process.