Robot Simulation: Systems-Level Applications
by Bryan Bergeron

A holistic view of robot design and development blurs the boundary between abstract behavior and the form, composition, and construction of the physical platform. While a single roboticist can often use this approach to develop a relatively simple robot, it soon becomes unwieldy as the level of complexity increases. At some point between a carpet roamer and a fully autonomous robot, most roboticists benefit from thinking of a robot as a collection of interdependent systems, and of robot design as the straightforward orchestration of these systems.

Working with robotics at the systems level may involve determining the optimal number and placement of sonar sensors on a hexapod, defining the bandwidth requirements of a robot-PC communication link, or tuning the motor controller of a dual drive robot. While trial and error may be an acceptable approach for simple challenges such as determining optimum rangefinder sensor placement, a more formal engineering approach is usually appropriate when the components are expensive, time is limited, or when simply ‘acceptable’ performance isn’t good enough.