Welcome to the Robobo Programming Wiki

This wiki provides a central point of reference for developers using the Robobo educational robot.

The Robobo Educational Robot

Robobo is a research and educational robot composed of a robotic platform, the Robobo base, and an smartphone. The base makes up the robot body, providing mobility as well as some sensing capabilities, while the smartphone is the Robobo's brain, providing raw processing power and high-level sensing/actuation capabilities.

Real and simulated robot

You can use the real Robobo platform or the simulation models we have developed:

• Real robot: This is the star product, our real robot, that uses your smartphone to create an optimal platform for learning intelligent robotics.

• Simulation models: There are 3 simulation models available for Robobo, suitable for the 3 skill levels we have defined below.

Programming the Robobo Robot

The Robobo robot can be programmed in 3 different levels, depending on the background and interests of the developer:

• Block programming: Block programming is the recommended way for rookie developers. Our Scratch3 environment allows students to create autonomos robotics programs easily.

• Python programming: The second level is based on Python, the most popular text-based programming language in robotics. Our Robobo.py library contains more functionalities than the Scratch3 blocks, including advanced computer vision functions. You can write remote programs that can be easily executed on a PC within an IDE (like Visual Studio Code), move the robot remotely and debug the code on the PC.

• ROS programming: Robobo is compatible with ROS (Robot Operating System) so that it can be programmed as a remote ROS node. This is the recommended way for university students and researchers in robotics.

We highly recommend to use one of these three programming options, that are continuously updated. But, in addition, Robobo can be programmed using Javascript (https://github.com/mintforpeople/robobo-programming/wiki/javascript-doc), although the documentation of this language could be outdated.

Important considerations

1. All the previous languages are compatible with Android smartphones. iOS devices can be used in Robobo only through ROS2.

2. The block programs, python programs and ROS programs run in a computer that remotely commands the robot. Only Native programs can be run onboard the robot's smartphone, and thus make it fully autonomous. In this case, Java Android should be used.

• Java for Android programming: Robobo can be programmed using the Java language and the Robobo Framework, a library that provides access to the robot functionalities. This is only recommended for advanced developers because it implies to create an Android app.

Interested in using the Robobo Robot?

If you are interested in using the Robobo educational robot in your school, institution, research, or even at home, you can obtain more information about the robot in the following links:

The Robobo Project Website

The Robobo Education Portal

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