Malte Z. Andreasen, Philip I. Holler, Magnus K. Jensen, Michele Albano
{"title":"MAES: a ROS 2-compatible simulation tool for exploration and coverage algorithms","authors":"Malte Z. Andreasen, Philip I. Holler, Magnus K. Jensen, Michele Albano","doi":"10.1007/s10015-023-00895-7","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>With the aim of allowing the efficient and realistic simulation of swarm algorithms for exploration and coverage, we present the tool Multi-Agent Exploration Simulator (MAES), which is an open-source physics-based discrete step multi-robot simulator. MAES features movement in a continuous 2D space, realistic physics based on the Unity framework, advanced visualization techniques such as heatmaps, custom wireless signal degradation, both randomly generated and custom user-provided maps, and a ROS (Robot Operating System) interface. This latter characteristic could allow to port the simulated algorithms to real-world robots. We present performance tests, conducted with rather modest hardware, showing that MAES is able to simulate up to 5 robots in ROSMode (using the ROS integration) and up to 120 robots in UnityMode (development performed directly into the C# Unity Editor). A usability test was conducted which hinted that the target audience of robotics researchers and developers is able to quickly install, setup, and use MAES for implementing simple robot logic.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":46050,"journal":{"name":"Artificial Life and Robotics","volume":"28 4","pages":"757 - 770"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Artificial Life and Robotics","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10015-023-00895-7","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"ROBOTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
With the aim of allowing the efficient and realistic simulation of swarm algorithms for exploration and coverage, we present the tool Multi-Agent Exploration Simulator (MAES), which is an open-source physics-based discrete step multi-robot simulator. MAES features movement in a continuous 2D space, realistic physics based on the Unity framework, advanced visualization techniques such as heatmaps, custom wireless signal degradation, both randomly generated and custom user-provided maps, and a ROS (Robot Operating System) interface. This latter characteristic could allow to port the simulated algorithms to real-world robots. We present performance tests, conducted with rather modest hardware, showing that MAES is able to simulate up to 5 robots in ROSMode (using the ROS integration) and up to 120 robots in UnityMode (development performed directly into the C# Unity Editor). A usability test was conducted which hinted that the target audience of robotics researchers and developers is able to quickly install, setup, and use MAES for implementing simple robot logic.