The Khepera mobile robot, is designed for ‘‘tabletop robotics’’ experiments. It was designed by Jean-Daniel Nicoud at E´ cole Polytechnique Fe´de´rale de Lausanne (EPFL), usually referred to in English as the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and is now manufactured by K-Team S.A. in Lausanne. Its cylindrical body is approximately 7 cm in diameter. It has two active wheels and a third support point. The basic robot includes the drive motors and on-board processor, but many additional modules, compatible with the size and shape of the platform, namely, with the same form factor, can be added. These include vision and other sensors as well as a gripper.
A wide variety of software is available for the Kheperas, ranging from that for navigation and obstacle avoidance to that for simulators. Kheperas are being used extensively for research in such areas as robot learning and group interaction. Good control system design ensures that the wheels of Kheperas do not break into oscillations even with rapid changes of velocity.
