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ScienceDirect
IFAC PapersOnLine 50-1 (2017) 9150–9155
A Khepera IV library for robotic control
A
A Khepera
Khepera IV
IV library
library for robotic
forV-REP
robotic control
control
education using
education using V-REP
∗ ∗∗ ∗
G. Farias
G. E. Fabregas
Farias ∗∗ E. Fabregas ∗∗ E. E. Peralta
Peralta ∗ E. Torres ∗∗
E. Torres
∗∗ ∗
∗ E. Torres ∗
G. Farias
G. Farias ∗ E. Fabregas
Farias E.
∗ S.
E. Fabregas ∗∗ E. Peralta
Dormido
∗∗
S. Dormido
∗∗
E. Peralta
Peralta
∗∗ ∗ Torres ∗∗
E. Torres
G. Fabregas E. ∗∗ E.
S.
S. Dormido
Dormido ∗∗
∗∗
∗
S. Dormido
∗ Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaı́so, Av. Brasil, 2147,
∗ Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaı́so, Av. Brasil, 2147,
∗ Pontificia
∗ Universidad
Valparaı́so,
Pontificia Chile Católica
Universidad (e-mails:de
Católica de Valparaı́so, Av. Brasil,
gonzalo.farias@pucv.cl,
Valparaı́so, 2147,
Valparaı́so,
Pontificia Chile
Universidad (e-mails:
Católica Valparaı́so, Av.
Av. Brasil,
Brasil, 2147,
degonzalo.farias@pucv.cl, 2147,
Valparaı́so, Chile
Valparaı́so, Chile (e-mails:
emmanuel.peraltah@gmail.com,
Chile (e-mails:
(e-mails:
emmanuel.peraltah@gmail.com, gonzalo.farias@pucv.cl,
enrique torres1994@hotmail.com)
gonzalo.farias@pucv.cl,
enrique torres1994@hotmail.com)
Valparaı́so, gonzalo.farias@pucv.cl,
∗∗emmanuel.peraltah@gmail.com,
Informática yyenrique torres1994@hotmail.com)
∗∗
Departamento
Departamento de de Informática
emmanuel.peraltah@gmail.com, Automática,
enrique Universidad
Universidad Nacional
torres1994@hotmail.com)
Automática, Nacional
∗∗emmanuel.peraltah@gmail.com, enrique torres1994@hotmail.com)
∗∗
de
∗∗ Departamento
Educación
Departamento
deDepartamento a de
de Informática
Distancia, Juan
Informática
Educación a Distancia, y
del
y Automática,
Rosal, 16,
Automática,
Juan ydelAutomática, Universidad
28040, Nacional
Madrid,
Universidad
Rosal, 16, 28040, Spain
Nacional
Madrid, Spain
de Informática Universidad Nacional
de
de Educación
(emails:a Distancia, Juan del
efabregas@bec.uned.es, Rosal, 16, 28040, Madrid,
sdormido@dia.uned.es) Spain
de Educación a Distancia, Juan del Rosal, 16, 28040, Madrid, Spain
Educación
(emails:a Distancia, Juan del
efabregas@bec.uned.es, Rosal, 16, 28040, Madrid,
sdormido@dia.uned.es) Spain
(emails: efabregas@bec.uned.es,
(emails: efabregas@bec.uned.es, sdormido@dia.uned.es)
efabregas@bec.uned.es, sdormido@dia.uned.es)
sdormido@dia.uned.es)
(emails:
Abstract: This
Abstract: This paper
paper describes
describes a a new
new module
module to to create
create advanced
advanced simulations
simulations with with the the Khepera
Khepera
Abstract:
IV mobile This
IV mobile
Abstract: robotpaper
robot
This in
in V-REP
paper describes
describes
V-REP a
a new
new module
simulator.
simulator. The
module to
to create
The library, create
library, advanced
called KH4VREP,
advanced
called KH4VREP, simulations
simulations allowswith
allows withusers
usersthe
thetoKhepera
add
add aa
Khepera
to
Abstract: This paper describes a new module to create advanced simulations with the Khepera
IV
IV mobile
Khepera
mobile IV robot
model
robot in
in toV-REP
a
V-REP new simulator.
or an The
existing
simulator. The library,
V-REP
library, called
simulation.
called KH4VREP,
The
KH4VREP, KH4VREP allows
allows users
library
users to
to add
depicts
add a
Khepera
IV mobile IV robot
modelintoV-REP a new or an existing
simulator. TheV-REPlibrary,simulation.
called KH4VREP, The KH4VREP allows users add aa
librarytodepicts
Khepera
a graphical
Khepera
a graphical IV
IV model
model to
representation
to a
a new
new ofor
or an
the
an existing
Khepera
existing V-REP
IV
V-REP simulation.
model, and
simulation. also The
The KH4VREP
provides
KH4VREP several library
methods
library depicts
depicts to
Khepera IV representation
model to a newoforthe Khepera V-REP
an existing IV model, and also
simulation. The provides
KH4VREP several methods
library depicts to
a graphical
programmatically representation
read and of
and manipulatethe Khepera
manipulate IV
the sensors
sensors model, and
and actuators
actuators alsoof provides several methods to
a graphical
graphical representation
aprogrammatically read
representation of
of the
the Khepera the
Khepera IV
IV model,and
model, and
and alsoalsoofprovides
the robot.
the
provides robot. The visual
several
The
several visual
methods
methods design
design to
to
programmatically
of
of the
the model
model has
programmatically read
has been
been and
and manipulate
readdeveloped
developed using the
the sensors
using Autodesk
manipulate and
and actuators
sensorsInventor.
Autodesk Inventor. The
The library
actuators of
of the
library robot.
robot. The
the provides
provides visual
visual design
functionality
The
functionality design to
to
programmatically read and manipulate the sensors and actuators of the robot. The visual design
of
test
of
testthe
thethe model
mobile
model has
has been
robot
been developed
under
developed using
different
using Autodesk
control
Autodesk Inventor.
problems
Inventor. The
such
The library
as:
library provides
position
provides functionality
control, trajectory
functionality to
to
of thethe mobile
model has robot under different
been developed control problems
using Autodesk Inventor.such as: position
The library provides control, trajectory
functionality to
test the
tracking,
test the mobile
path robot
path following, under different
obstacle control
avoidance, problems
and
and multi-robot such as:experiments
position control,
with trajectory
with formation
test the mobile
tracking, mobile robot
robot under
following, under different
obstacle
different control
control problems
avoidance, problems such
such as:
multi-robot position
position control,
as:experiments control, trajectory
formation
trajectory
tracking,
control.
tracking,
control. path
path following,
following, obstacle
obstacle avoidance,
avoidance, and
and multi-robot
multi-robot experiments
experiments with
with formation
formation
tracking, path following, obstacle avoidance, and multi-robot experiments with formation
control.
control.
control.
© 2017, IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control) Hosting by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Keywords: Khepera Khepera IV, IV, Control
Control engineering simulations, V-REP
engineering simulations, V-REP simulator.
simulator.
Keywords:
Keywords: Khepera
Khepera IV,
IV, Control
Control engineering
engineering simulations,
simulations, V-REP
V-REP simulator.
simulator.
Keywords: Khepera IV, Control engineering simulations, V-REP simulator.
1. INTRODUCTION
1. INTRODUCTION of these
of these platforms
platforms have have licenses
licenses that that can
can bebe used
used freefree of
of
1.
1. INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION of
of these
charge
charge forplatforms
thesefor educational
platforms
educational have licenses
licenses that
havepurposes.
purposes. Mostcan
Most
that of be
be used
of these
can these free
free of
simulators
used
simulators of
1. INTRODUCTION of these platforms have licenses that can be used free of
charge
include for
include
charge for educational
models
educational
models of thepurposes.
of the best
best known
purposes. known Most
Mostand of
of these
and simulators
commercialized
these simulators
commercialized
During
During the the last last years,
years, robotics
robotics has has beenbeen introduced
introduced in in charge
include
robots.
include
for
In
educational
models
some
models of
cases
of the
the
purposes.
thebest
best known
Most
developments
known
of
and
and
these simulators
commercialized
can be exported
commercialized
During the robots.
in include In some cases the developments
models of the best known and commercialized can be exported
education
During
education
During theat
the atlastall years,
all
last
last levels. robotics
levels.
years,
years, Roboticshas
Robotics
robotics
robotics has
hasis been
is been
been
introduced
introduced in
aa multidisciplinary
multidisciplinary
introduced in robots.
to the
robots. In
real
In some
robot
some cases
for
cases the
testing
the developments
after
developmentsusing can
the
can be
simulator.
be exported
exported
education to the
robots. real
In robot
some for
cases testing
the after
developmentsusing the
can simulator.
be exported
subject.
subject. It
education
education It at
at
at
all
all levels.
expands
expands
all to
levels.
Robotics
to several
levels. Robotics
several
Robotics
is
is a
engineering
engineering
is
multidisciplinary
and
and scientific
aa multidisciplinary
multidisciplinary
scientific to to the
the real
real robot
robot for
for testing
testing after
after using
using the
the simulator.
simulator.
subject.
disciplines
subject.
disciplines It
It expands
such
expands
such as
as to
to several
electrical
several
electrical engineering
engineering,
engineering
engineering,
subject. It expands to several engineering and scientific
and
computer
and
computer science, to
scientific
scientific
science, The
The the real
V-REP
V-REP robot
simulator
simulatorfor testing
deserves
deserves after using
aa special
special the simulator.
mention
mention for
for being
being
disciplines
control
disciplines such
engineering,
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control engineering, as electrical
and
as electrical
electrical engineering,
mechanical
engineering,
and mechanical among
among computer
computerothers.
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That
science,
That The The
one
The V-REP
of
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of the most simulator
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widely deserves
used
deserves a
used aafor special
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pedagogical
special for
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mention purposes
pedagogical being
purposes
disciplines such engineering, computer science, simulator deserves special mention for being
control
is
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control engineering,
why robotics
engineering,
robotics is
is veryand
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and interesting
mechanical and
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among
and others.
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versatile That
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of This most
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This simulator widely is used
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scalable framework
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Farias
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(2015).
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et al.
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even much more important since advanced robots are still The model has been encapsulated with many built-in
very
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different robotic Currently,
robotic
expensive.
different branches
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Currently, there
there
with very
veryare many
many simulators
aresophisticated
sophisticated simulators for
for functions
features.
features. easy way.
functions
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This
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version and
and control
includes
control
includes the
several
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several robot
examples,
robot
examples, in
in very
such
very
such
very expensive. Currently, there are many simulators for functions to manipulate and control the robot in very
different
Among
Among others,
different robotic
robotic branches
others, it
it cancan be
branches bewithfound
with
foundvery
very thesophisticated
the following features.
sophisticated
following popular easy
features.
popular as: aa way.
as:
easy new This
new
way. algorithm
This
algorithmnew
new version for includes
for obstacles
version includes
obstacles several
several examples,
avoidance
avoidance (VFH,
(VFH, Ulrich
examples, such
such
Ulrich
different robotic branches with very sophisticated features. easy way. This new version includes several examples, such
Among
simulators:
Among
simulators: others,
Webots
others,
Webots it
it can
can be
(Michel
be
(Michel found
(2004)),
found
(2004)),thethe
theGazebo
Gazebofollowing
following(Koenig
(Koenigpopular
and
popular
and as: as:
and
as: a
a new
new
andaBorenstein algorithm
Borenstein
algorithm (2000));
(2000)); for
for obstacles
and some
obstacles avoidance
multi-robot
avoidance (VFH, Ulrich
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Copyright
2405-8963 ©
Copyright © 2017
2017 IFAC
© 2017, IFAC 9489
9489Hosting by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control)
Copyright
Peer review© 2017
under IFAC
responsibility of International Federation of 9489
Automatic
Copyright © 2017 IFAC
Copyright © 2017 IFAC 9489Control.
9489
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 Proceedings of the 20th IFAC World Congress
Toulouse, France, July 9-14, 2017 G. Farias et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 50-1 (2017) 9150–9155 9151

The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: Section VREP and copy it in the following path: ..\V-REP3\V-REP_
2, presents some characteristics of the V-REP simulator PRO_EDU\models\robots\mobile. Once the file is copied,
and the Khepera IV robot; Section 3 describes the library it will appear in the list of models of V-REP, as it can be
KH4VREP ; Section 4 shows the implementation and the seen on the left side of Figure 1.
results of some test experiments developed with the li-
brary; and Section 5 presents the main conclusions and
future works.
2. V-REP AND KHEPERA IV ROBOT

The Virtual Robot Experimentation Platform (V-REP ) is

a versatile and scalable framework to develop 3D simula-
tions in a relatively short period of time. This simulator
was created in 2010 and has been growing during the last
years. Nowadays, this is one of the most used simulators
for education in the robotics field (with a free licence for
educational purposes). As its authors say: “V-REP is the
Swiss army knife among robot simulators.”
V-REP has an integrated development environment (IDE)
that is based on a distributed control architecture: each ob- Fig. 1. Integration of the model in V-REP
ject/model can be individually controlled via an embedded
script, a plug-in, a Robot Operating System (ROS) node, To add the model to the simulation you need to drag and
a remote API client, or a custom solution. The controllers drop the robot to the workspace. The result is shown on
can be written in different languages: C/C++, Python, the right side of the Figure 1.
Java, Lua, Matlab, Octave or Urbi (Coppelia Robotics
GmbH (2015)). V-REP comes with a large number of The library is titled KH4VREP and it is divided into two
examples, models of robots, sensors and actuators to create parts: 1) the graphical model of the Khepera IV robot
a virtual world and to interact with it in running time. (visual components); and 2) a set of software functions to
carry out some specific tasks.
2.1 Khepera IV robot
3.1 Visual components
The Khepera IV robot is the most recent development of
the Swiss company K-Team (2015). This version is newest The Khepera IV is a rigid body with a differential be-
generation of Khepera family. From its first version, these havior, due to it is equipped with two wheels that are
robots have been designed with research and educational driven by DC motors with encoder and gearbox. The
purposes in mind. minimum controlled speed of the robot is 3 mm/s and
the maximum speed is about 813 mm/s. In the case of the
It offers wifi and bluetooth communications, color camera,
caster wheels, both are considered as fixed spheres in the
USB host, a large number of advanced features such as:
model. Note that the gyroscope and accelerometer sensors
8 infra-reds sensors, 5 ultrasonics sensors, accelerometer,
were not included in the model since that information is
gyroscope, microphone, a large duration battery (5 hours),
given directly by the V-REP simulator for each included
loudspeaker, 3 top RGB LED, improved odometry and
model.
precision. The CPU is a 800MHz ARM Cortex-A8 Pro-
cessor (with linux core running) and additional micro- To design and to implement the model, all visual parts of
controller for peripherals management. the robot (case, base, wheels, etc...) were modeled using
Autodesk Inventor and assembled in V-REP. The obtained
The robot can be programmed from a Linux-based oper-
prototype was imported to V-REP as .stl format. V-REP
ating system and C language. Khepera IV has a modular
allows to add physical properties and dynamics to this kind
configuration, with a cylindrical shape to minimize the
of prototypes. The model also has 5 ultrasonic sensors, 8
damage and negative effects in its parts under collision
infrared sensors (eight around the case and four in the
conditions. Khepera is a differential wheeled robot whose
bottom of the robot to perform line following), one color
movement is based on two separately driven wheels placed
camera, two wheel motors, and two caster wheels. All these
on each side of its body. The device can be used for differ-
sensors and actuators were added and configured using
ent experiments such as: line following, obstacle detection
existing elements of V-REP. Figure 2 shows the assembling
and avoidance in a dynamic environment, advanced signal
process of the robot in V-REP.
processing, motion control, wireless communication, image
processing, formation control, and many other advanced
topics. Undoubtedly, this robot is a powerful tool for 3.2 Software components
teaching robotics.
The software components of the library are in a script
3. KH4VREP LIBRARY associated to the model. This script is a main thread
with an infinite loop that contains calls to functions that
To use the library you need to include it in V-REP sim- carry out some specific tasks during the simulation. The
ulator. To do it you need to download the file Khep- following code segment shows the structure of the main
eraIV.ttm from: https://github.com/EAPH/K4_Model_ function for the example of position control.

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θ, where α is the current angle to the target point and θ

is the current orientation of the robot. At the same time,
the robot tries to reduce the distance to the target point
(d ≈ 0).

Fig. 2. Assembling the model of the Khepera IV

1 s e t R o b o t ( vmax , wmax , L , x i , y i , t h e t a i )
2 t h r e a d F u n c t i o n=f u n c t i o n ( )
3 w h i l e ( l o o p ==1) do Fig. 4. Position control experiment
4 −−Get p o s i t i o n and o r i e n t a t i o n o f t h e r o b o t
5 xc , yc , t h e t a=g e t R o b o t P o s i t i o n ( ) Equations (1) and (2) are implemented in the block
6 −−Get t a r g e t p o s i t i o n
7 xp , yp=g e t T a r g e t P o s i t i o n ( )
Compute; by using as reference the target point (Tp ) and
8 −−Apply p o s i t i o n c o n t r o l the current position of the robot (C).
9 v , w=p o s i t i o n C o n t r o l ( xp , yp , xc , yc , t h e t a ) 
2 2
10 −−Update r o b o t v e l o c i t i e s d = (yp − yr ) + (xp − xr ) (1)
11 u p d a t e V e l o c i t i e s ( v , w)  
12 end y p − yr
13 end α = tan−1 (2)
xp − xr
The code starts by setting the initial conditions, for With the outputs of the block Compute the block Control
example: function setRobot to establish the initialization Law calculates the linear velocity (ν) and the angular
parameters of the robot (line 1). Line 2 is the definition of velocity (ω) of the robot as it is shown in equations (3)
the thread main function (threadFunction). In line 3 starts and (4) (Villela et al. (2004)).
the infinite while loop. Line 5 obtains the current position 
and orientation of the robot with the function getPosition.
νmax  if |d| > kr
ν= νmax (3)
Line 7 obtains the coordinates of the target point with the d if |d| ≤ kr
function getTarget. Line 9 executes the position control of kr
the robot with function positionControl. Line 11 updates ω = ωmax sin (α − θ) (4)
the angular and linear velocities of the robot model.
where νmax is the maximum linear velocity, kr is the radius
of a docking area (around the target point) and ωmax is
3.3 Position control experiment
the maximum angular velocity of the robot.
This experiment is to drive the wheeled mobile robot The following code segment represents the implementation
from its current position to a predefined target point. of the function positionControl in the KH4VREP library.
This problem has been widely studied during the last Note that this function is called in line 9 of the main
years, due to the kinematic model of these robots may function in the previous example.
seem deceptively simple, but nonholonomic constraints 1 p o s i t i o n C o n t r o l=f u n c t i o n ( xp , yp , xc , yc , t h e t a )
introduce a challenging problems in the designing of the 2 d = m a t h . s q r t ( ( ( xp−xc ) ˆ 2 ) + ( ( yp−yc ) ˆ 2 ) )
control law (Fabregas et al. (2016)). Figure 3 shows the 3 a l p h a = m a t h . a t a n 2 ( yp−yc , xp−xc ) −−T a r g e t a n g l e
4 Oc = alp ha−t h e t a −−E r r o r a n g l e
blocks diagram of this experiment. 5 i f ( d>=0. 0 5 ) t h e n
6 w=Wmax∗ m a t h . s i n ( Oc ) −−Angular v e l o c i t y
Tp
d ν 7 v=(vmax/ k r ) ∗ d −−L i n e a r v e l o c i t y
x, y, θ
Compute Motors 8 i f ( v>vmax ) t h e n −−L i n e a r v e l o c i t y s a t u r a t i o n
α Control Law ω
9 v=vmax
10 end
C 11 e l s e v=0 , w=0
Position Sensor 12 end
13 r e t u r n v , w −−V a l u e s r e t u r n e d
14 end

Fig. 3. Block diagram of the position control problem

Line 1 is the definition of the positionControl function
Figure 4 shows the variables involved in this experiment. which receives as parameters the coordinates of the current
The robot tries to minimize its orientation error, θe = α − target point (xp; yp) and the current position (xc; yc) and

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orientation (theta) of the robot. Lines 2 and 3 calculate
equations (1) and (2). Line 4 obtains the orientation angle
error. Lines 6 calculates equation (4) and line 7 calculates
equation (3). Lines 8 to 10 are the saturation of the
calculated linear velocity (ν). Lines 12 and 13 set the
velocities to zero if the robot is very close to the destination
point (less than 0.05 m). The function returns the values
of the velocities in line 15.
3.4 Obstacles avoidance experiment
The obstacles avoidance problem has been widely studied
using different techniques. Note that this problem is a
next step of the position control. The robot must be
able to avoid the obstacles that appear on its way to the
destination. To do that, the block Avoidance is added after
the Control Law block. This block calculates new velocities
(ν’ and ω’) if the sensors detect obstacles. In the absence
of obstacles ν’=ν and ω’=ω. Figure 5 shows the block
diagram of this experiment.
Proximity Sensors
Tp
d ν
Compute α Control Law ω Avoidance ω’ Motors
C
Position Sensor
Fig. 5. Control block diagram with obstacle avoidance
The block Avoidance can be implemented with different
algorithms depending of the obstacles sensors and its
location on the robot. In this case, to test the library
two algorithms have been implemented: Braitenberg (Yang
et al. (2006)) and (VFH ) Vector Field Histogram (Ulrich
and Borenstein (2000)).
Braitenberg algorithm. This algorithm creates a weighted
matrix that converts the sensor inputs into motors speeds.
This matrix is a two-dimensional array with the number of
columns corresponding to the eight sensors, and the rows
corresponding to the two motors. Equation (5) represents
such matrix, where WLS1 is the weight of sensor S1 in the
speed of the left motor. Equation (6) represents the values
of the sensors at each
 time. 
WLS1 WLS2 . . . WLS8
W = (5)
WRS1 WRS2 . . . WRS8
T
S = (S1 S2 . . . S8 )
With these matrices, the velocities for each motor are
calculated as shown in equation (7), where (Smax ) is the
maximum value of the proximity sensors if no obstacle is
detected.
νL,R = W ∗ (1 − (S/Smax )) (7)
Velocities ν’ and ω’ are calculated from νR and νL using
the differential model equations. The following code seg-
ment shows the implementation of this algorithm.
1 b r a i t e n b e r g C o n t r o l=f u n c t i o n ( )
2 i f ( S [ 1 ] + S [ 2 ] + S [ 3 ] + S [ 4 ] + S [ 5 ] . . −−O b s t a c l e
3 . . +S [ 6 ] + S [ 7 ] + S[8] <=Smax ∗ 8 ) t h e n
4 f o r i =1 ,8 ,1 do
5 Vl=Vl+WLS[ i ] ∗ ( 1 − ( S [ i ] / Smax ) )
6 Vr=Vr+WRS[ i ] ∗ ( 1 − ( S [ i ] / Smax ) )
7 end
8 v=(Vr+Vl ) / 2
9 w=(Vr−Vl ) / L
10 end
11 r e t u r n v , w
12 end
The function Braitenberg is called after the function po-
sitionControl in the main threadFunction.Line 1 is the
definition of this function. Line 2 asks for the obstacle de-
tection. If one of the 8 sensors does not has the maximum
value, is because an obstacle has been detected. Lines 5
and 6 implement equations (5), (6) and (7). Lines 8 and
9 calculate ν and ω from the differential model. Line 11
returns the values of the calculated velocities.
VFH algorithm. This method allows a fast and smooth
motion of the robot avoiding obstacles in a dynamical
environment. The speed is the maximum in the absence of
obstacles. The robot tries to maintain this speed during the
trajectory unless being forced to slow down by the VFH
algorithm to the instantaneous speed ν and to change the
ν’
angular velocity according to equations (8) and (9).
x, y, θ
 
ω
ν = ν 1 − (8)
ωmax
ω = ωmax sin (θe ) (9)
where ωmax is the maximal allowable angular velocity for
the robot that will be achieved when the orientation error,
θe = ±90◦ , and ν  is defined in equations (10 and 11).
h
ν  = νmax 1 − c (10)
hm
hc = min (hc , hm ) (11)
where νmax is the maximum linear velocity, hm is a
constant empirically determined to cause a reduction in
the speed in presence of obstacles, and hc is the value of
the histogram of the distance between the robot and the
obstacles. If hc > 0 then an obstacle lies ahead of the robot.
Large values of hc means a bigger obstacle lies ahead or an
obstacle is very close to the robot. In both cases a change
of the direction is required. This means that a reduction in
the linear velocity is needed to turn to the new direction.
3.5 Multi-robot experiment
This experiment is a formation maneuver of a group of
(6) robots. Where one of them is the leader and the rest are
the followers. The position of the leader is controlled using
the aforementioned algorithm. The followers also control
their positions, but taking the position of the leader as
reference to make a formation around him. For example a
circle with the leader located at the center (Lawton et al.
(2003)).
The followers have three parameters in the function tar-
getPosition to modify their destination points: 1) the
coordinates of the leader robot; 2) the distance to the
leader in the formation; and 3) the angle with respect to
detected the leader’s position. This configuration allows different
formation around the leader robot. The coordinates of the
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target point (xp , yp ) of the followers in the formation are VFH algorithm. In both cases, the robot has to reach its
obtained in equation (12). destination point (red semi-sphere). The configuration in
 both cases is similar: a wall (in green and black colors) and
xp = xL + rcos(β + θ)
(12) an obstacle in (yellow and black colors) on the way to the
yp = yL + rsin(β + θ) target point.
where the position of the leader robot is (xL ,yL ). r is the
distance of the follower to the leader (for example: radius
of the circle). β is the angle to the leader and θ is the
orientation of the leader robot.
The following code segment shows an example of the
implementation of this function for a follower robot located
at 0.5 meters and 180◦ with respect to the leader robot.
1 xp , yp=g e t T a r g e t P o s i t i o n ( ’ Khepera IV0 ’ , 0 . 5 , 1 8 0 )
2 ...
3 t a r g e t P o s i t i o n=f u n c t i o n ( ob j , o b j D i s t , objAng )
4 d i s t a n c e M a s t e r=o b j D i s t
5 a n g l e M a s t e r=objAng ∗ m a t h . p i /180
6 t a r g e t=s i m G e t O b j e c t H a n d l e ( o b j )
7 s i m S e t O b j e c t P a r e n t ( t a r g e t , −1 , t r u e )
8 t a r=s i m G e t O b j e c t P o s i t i o n ( t a r g e t , −1)
9 o r i T a r=s i m G e t O b j e c t O r i e n t a t i o n ( t a r g e t , −1)
10 xp=t a r [ 1 ] + d i s t M a s t e r ∗ m a t h . c o s ( angMaster+o r i T a r [ 3 ] )
11 yp=t a r [ 2 ] + d i s t M a s t e r ∗ m a t h . s i n ( angMaster+o r i T a r [ 3 ] )
12 r e t u r n xp , yp
13 end
14 ...
15 v , w=p o s i t i o n C o n t r o l ( xp , yp , xc , yc , t h e t a )
Fig. 6. Braitenberg vs VFH
Line 1 is the invocation of this function from the main As can be seen with the Braitenberg algorithm the robot
thread. Line 3 is the definition of the function with three reaches the destination point in a much more direct and
parameters: 1) leader robot name; 2) distance to the leader smoothed way. That is why the robot reaches the destina-
robot in the formation; and 3) angle with respect to tion point in less time. In the case of VFH, the robot moves
the leader robot in the formation. Lines 4 to 9 obtain with a zigzag path because the built histogram has “blind
the parameters of the leader robot (handle, position and zones” between the sensors due to the localization of the
orientation). Lines 10 and 11 implement equation (12). sensors around the robot. For this reason the histogram is
Line 12 returns the target coordinates (xp , yp ). After that, not continuous and the algorithm does not work properly
in the main thread the position control is executed (line as expected.
15).
Table 1 shows a summary of implemented functions and 4.2 Multi-robots experiment
their different tasks.
Table 1. KH4VREP Library methods Figure 7 shows an example of the multi-robot experiment
including obstacles avoidance (Braitenberg). In this case,
Methods Characteristics
five robots have been used (one leader and four followers).
setRobot Sets the parameters of the robot.
getPosition Obtain the position of the robot.
The configuration shows obstacles (in light gray color)
plot Creates a 2D line plot of the data. with different shapes and sizes.
getTarget Obtain the target point.
positionControl Controls the position of the robot.
braitenbergControl Executes the Braitenberg algorithm.
updateVelocities Updates the velocities of the robot.

4. RESULTS

In this section the implemented control problems are

presented to test the library: obstacles avoidance and
multi-robots. Note that these experiments implement the
position control of the robot.

4.1 Collision Avoidance (Braitenberg vs VFH Algorithms)

Figure 6 shows a sequence of the comparison of these two

algorithms. On the left side the robot implements the po-
sition control experiment with the Braitenberg algorithm
for obstacles avoidance and on the right side, with the Fig. 7. Multi-robots performing formation control

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The goal is to make a formation with cross form with the
leader robot in the center as reference. All robots start
stopped occupying their respective positions in the forma-
tion. Then the leader tries to reach its destination point
avoiding the obstacles that appear on its way. The traces
of the positions of the robots show the trajectories followed
to reach the destinations. As can be seen, formation is lost
during the displacement due to two aspects: 1) the targets
points of the followers are relative to the position of the
guide and it is moving; 2) follower avoid the obstacles that
appear in their path.
Another example of multi-robots experiment have been
implemented to test the integration of the library with the
existing models of V-REP. The experience consists in a
Khepera IV that performs a position control experiment
and a quadcopter that must follows the Khepera IV using
its position as reference (x, y) maintaining constant height
(z) relative to the ground. Figure 8 shows an image of this
experiment: the on-board camera of the Khepera (bottom
left side) and the on-board camera of the quadcopter
(bottom right side). As can be seen the quadcopter follows
the Khepera IV robot in acceptable way.
Fig. 8. A quadcopter follows a Khepera IV that performs
position control
5. CONCLUSION
In this paper the library KH4VREP for V-REP simulator
has been presented. The library is an encapsulation of the
model of the Khepera IV and includes built-in methods to
manipulate the robot, and also a set of simulations to show
many control problems with mobile robots. The result of
this development is a ready to use tool that allows the
implementation of experiments with these robots in an
interactive and attractive environment. The library allows
to test and understand theoretical concepts in a dynamic
way in order to teach engineering control.
In the near future, the library will be included in a pilot
platform that has been developed in our laboratories.
The main objective of the future work will be to design
advanced control algorithms using the library and the
simulation environment. Among other, multi-agents ex-
periments with consensus control problem and event-based
communications between the robots could be included in
the library.
9494
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work has been funded by the Chilean Ministry of
Education under the Project FONDECYT 1161584, the
Projects DPI2012-31303 and DPI2014-55932-C2-1-R of
the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.
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