RoboViz - Robot Swarm Visualizer Tool

Introduction

The RoboViz tool is a visualizer tool to represent a robot swarm in its task environment. The tool takes in a JSON file containing the definition (as specified by Robogen) of a reference robot and visualizes a homogeneous or heterogeneous robot-swarm of a specified size. The task environment is a 3D bounded arena, and the task is a pre-specified collective gathering.

Using the Tool

Linux

1. Clone the github repo & cd into the directory

git clone https://github.com/cyberCharl/Capstone-Roboviz
cd Capstone-Roboviz

2. Make the file executable

chmod +x RoboVizTooool.x86_64

3. Execute the file

./RoboVizTooool.x86_64

Functional Requirements

• Read and parse the input JSON file
• Read and parse configuration text file
• Read and parse robot positions text file
• Render 3D scene with task environment and robots
• Navigate scene - zoom in and out of the rendered scene

Input Files

Robot Swarm File

This is a JSON file obtained from the RoboGen platform - robogen-evolver. It contains all the information required to construct a given robot, including body parts and its controller.

Configuration File

Contains the required parameters:

• terrainLength (INT)
• terrainWidth (INT)
• swarmSize (INT)

Robot Positions Configuration File

Contains the robot's position:

• x-coordinate y-coordinate z-coordinate

The Team

Developed by:

• Charl Botha
• George du Plooy
• Bernard Strauss

UCT 3rd Year Compsci 2022