Introduction

Mobile robotics is a complex area of scientific research and education dealing with advanced technologies. Knowledge and experiences of developing intelligent systems include the domains electronics, mechatronics, computer hardware and software. Furthermore mobile robotics projects are tied with large investments. Realistic simulations and fast prototyping for developing mobile systems help to reduce the amount of time and to minimize the costs for hardware developments. In addition, simulations offer the possibility to concentrate faster on the interesting aspects of developing algorithms. Scientific education and research benefit from realistic, technically mature, and well-engineered simulators.

State of the art computer games are cost effective, due to the development for the mass consumer market. As an available free prerequisite, many students are already familiar with computer games and are extraordinarily motivated to go into more detail. Ego shooters simulate agents in a 3D environments and contain a physics simulation [8].

Application of the simulator USARSIM is the area of rescue robotics. Software of rescue robots covers artificial intelligence, knowledge representation and fast control algorithm design. RoboCup is a test and demonstration scenario for evaluating robots and their software.

The paper is organized as follows: First we introduce RoboCup Rescue and USARSIM, followed by a description of how to simulate environments and the Kurt2 robot platform, including a presentation of our USARSIM system architecture. Simulation performance and results conclude.