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task, which remains unsolvable very often. There-
fore, existence of real senses, as sensory measure-
ments from real environments can not ever be fully
substituted by simulation.
The preceding finding leads to the idea, that re-
search/development as well as teaching activities in
the field of intelligent robotics can be performed on
high quality level only and only if a real experimental
platform is made available. This comprises mainly
availability of real sensors being operated in real-
world environments and providing realistic data. To
move, orient and position the sensor in the environ-
ment a suitable carrier (mobile platform or actuator)
is needed. Integrating both the previous issues to-
gether and adding some control algorithms we ob-
tain a mobile robot, whereas the crucial control part
(the data processing algorithms, reasoning and plan-
ning) can be executed either on-board such platform
or off-board in an attached or remote computer. Hav-
ing multiple such sensor platforms with some neces-
sary control infrastructure (observation and caretak-
ing system) we achieve a multi-robot system, which
can be made ready either for local or remote con-
trol via Internet. As this setup is truly teleoperated,
it can effectively create an experimental part of an e-
learning system for the intelligent mobile robotics as
well as collective robotics domains.
In this paper we present the SyRoTek system -
a system for distance robotic learning which will al-
low its remote users to get acquainted with algorithms
from areas of modern mobile and collective robotics,
artificial intelligence, control, and many other related
domains. Advanced users will be able to develop own
algorithms and monitor behaviour of these algorithms
on-line during real experiments.
SyRoTek mobile robots move inside a restricted
area, which contains other elements like obstacles or
objects related to objectives of the actually solved
task. Moreover, several sensors (infrared, sonars,
cameras, etc.) are used to gather information about
the actual status of the play field and particular objects
on it. Some sensors are placed on-board the robots,
while others are stand-alone getting global overview
of the play field status. The user will be able not only
to observe gathered data using Internet interface, but
also control the robots in real-time. Unlike existing
e-learning robotic systems developed in the world in
which the user can only tele-operate robots, behaviour
of the robots in the SyRoTek system can be modified,
since the system allows to run own algorithms devel-
oped by the user.
The remainder of the paper is structured as fol-
lows. The next section gives a brief overview of exist-
ing robotic systems for e-learning. In section 3, main
ideas and architecture of the SyRoTek system are pre-
sented. Robots developed and play-field are described
in section 4 and 5 respectively. Finally, typical assign-
ments solvable by the system are briefly introduced in
section 6.
2 RELATED WORK
The SyRoTek project is focused on building a system
for distance learning. Many systems for remote robot
control as well as systems for e-learning were imple-
mented during last decades.
First robotic projects enabling their users to share
and control robots via Internet dealt with a single tele-
operated robots. Many of these robots were operating
many years so knowledge gathered during these years
allows creating more advanced e-learning solutions.
One of the first robots controlled at distance and
available to public was Telegarden (Telegarden, 2008)
developed at University of Southern California. It has
been running since 1995 with 9000 users registered
to the system in first month of operation. Telegarden
has a mechanism which informs its users about actual
state of the system, and planned drop-outs. More-
over, the users can interact with each other via fo-
rum. Number of contributions in the forum shows
that space for exchange experience among users is
an inseparable part of an arbitrary e-learning sys-
tem (see analysis in (Kahn et al., 2005)). Users cre-
ate their own community, manuals, documentation,
tips&tricks which play an important role for collec-
tive solving of problems.
Other system worth to mention is Bradford
Robotic Telescope operated at University of Bradford
(Telescope, 2008). The telescope is a part of an e-
learning course of which goal is to popularize astron-
omy. In addition to open up a unique equipment to
a broad public, the many research programs use tele-
scope for research of galaxies, supernovas, and black
holes. The system thus combines basic research with
education by sharing limited sources.
Project RHINO (Rhino, 2008) combines tele-
operation with visualization. Robot RHINO
(a robotic guide in a museum) is able to operate in
two diverse modes. In the first one, the robot guides
visitors which can interact with the robot and influ-
ence the tour. The second mode allows Internet users
to control the robot and to view the museum at dis-
tance. Although main research goal of the project is
to build an autonomous robots with cognitive func-
tions education aspect plays an important role in both
modes.
Robot Xavier (Simmons et al., 2000) developed at
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