Pioneer 2 - Manual (Page 11)

Pioneer Mobile Robots
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Currently supported client operating systems include most UNIX, Apple Macintosh, SunOS and Solaris
from Sun Microsystems, Linux, Silicon Graphics' IRIX, and Microsoft’s Win32 (32-bit) Windows.
Saphira comes with a command-line interactive language, Colbert, and a demonstration program that
allows manual (keyboard or joystick) and automatic drive control of Pioneer. The program also lets you
enable several built-in robotic behaviors, including collision avoidance, features recognition, and self-
navigation. For details, see Quick Start, Chapter 4.
Ayllu is a tool for development of behavior-based control systems for mobile robots. It extends
subsumption-style message passing to the multi-robot domain, provides for a wide variety of behavior-
arbitration techniques, and allows a great deal of run-time system flexibility. This includes a dynamic
reconfiguration of behavior structure and redistribution of tasks across a group of robots as determined
by either task constraints or changing availability of resources. See the Ayllu Programmer’s Manual for
details.
Pioneer Application Interface (PAI) is a C-language development suite that works with Saphira. It lets
software developers gain closer control of the low-level details of Pioneer server. See the PAI Manual
for details.
Pioneer LOGO is a version of UCB-LOGO from the University of California-Berkeley, which we’ve
extended to include Pioneer commands. It provides direct, interactive control of the robot through
a familiar programming language. See the P-LOGO Manual for details.
An important benefit of Pioneer’s client/server architecture is that different robot servers can be run using
the same high-level client. For example, the included Pioneer simulator runs on the host machine and acts
just like the robot, so that developers may conveniently perfect their application software, then run it
without modification on the robot. Several clients also may share responsibility for controlling a single
mobile server, which permits experimentation in distributed communication, planning, and control.
Figure 2-2. In client/server mode, Pioneer 2 requires a host computer connection.
The Pioneer Legacy
Pioneer 1 was the original design. It introduced a 68HC11-based microcontroller and the Pioneer Server
Operating System (PSOS) software.
Intended mostly for indoor use on hard, flat surfaces, the Pioneer 1 has solid rubber tires and a two-wheel
differential, reversible drive system with a rear caster for balance. The Pioneer 1 came standard with seven
sonar range finders (two side-facing and five forward-facing) and integrated wheel encoders.
Software-wise, the Pioneer 1 initially served as a platform for SRI International's AI/fuzzy logic-based
Saphira robotics applications development. But it wasn't long before it's open architecture became the
popular platform for the development of a variety of alternative robotics software environments.
Many developers created software that interfaced directly with PSOS. Others extended the capabilities of
Saphira (PAI and P-LOGO are two good examples), while others have implemented alternative robotics-
control architectures, such as the subsumption-like Ayllu.
Functionally and programmatically identical to the Pioneer 1, the four-wheel drive, skid-steering Pioneer
AT was introduced for operation in uneven indoor and outdoor environments, including loose, rough