Note: As of January 1st, 2013, the Webots newsletter has been replaced by the Webots Blog for news about Webots and Cyberbotics.

September 2011

Webots newsletter

Webots™ Newsletter
News for the Webots™ user community.

September 2011

Webots 6.4.1 released

We are pleased to announce the release of Webots 6.4.1. This new version introduces models of Adept MobileRobots Pioneer 3DX and Pioneer 3AT (video), improved versions of KUKA youBot, Robotis DARwIn-OP and Microsoft Kinect. It also better handles the networking with the license server over slow Internet connections. The complete change log is available here. You can download this new version of Webots from the usual place. Please let us know if you spot any problem or bug with this new release.

Webots demonstrated at ECMR 2011, Örebro, Sweden and IROS 2011, San Francisco, USA

We will attend the European Conference on Mobile Robots (ECMR) to be held from September 7 to September 9, 2011 in Örebro, Sweden. Several demos of Webots will be running at the coffee break place. If you happen to be there, we would be happy to show you the new features of Webots! If you miss us in Örebro, you will have the opportunity to see the same demos at IROS 2011, from September 25 to September 30 in the exhibition area (we will be showing demos on the Skybotix booth).

Webobs (Blob finder for Webots) available on Cyberbotics store

The first Webots add-on, named Weblobs, just entered the Cyberbotics store along with URBI for Webots EDU and URBI for Webots PRO. Weblobs is actually a library allowing you to track color blobs from a Webots camera image. It is provided for Linux, Mac OS X and Window as a source code library which you can link with you Webots controller programs. For CHF 100, Weblobs will save your day if you need a good blob tracking library that works out of the box. This first Webots add-on was contributed by Amanda Whitbrook. As a Webots user, you are welcome to do the same and submit your own Webots add-on from your Webots account.

Tower of Hanoi competition with KUKA youbot robot

EURobotics is organizing a programming competition for robot scientists based on the Tower of Hanoi problem. The qualifications will take place on November 9-10, 2011 as a cyber-contest performed in simulation. Each qualified teams will receive a €1000 travel grant. In addition, the best three teams will receive a monetary prize. The free version of Webots 6.4.1 already includes the simulation setup allowing you to get prepared for the qualifications. The simulation can be found in the Webots / projects / contests / tower_of_hanoi / worlds / tower_of_hanoi.wbt file.

Reminder: Webots at DARwIn-OP tutorial at IROS 2011

A tutorial on the Robotis DARwIn-OP humanoid robot will be held at IROS (San Francisco) on September 25th, 2011. It will include several hands-on sessions, one of them focusing the use of the Webots simulation model of the robot. As shown on this video, the DARwIn-OP simulation in Webots features a complete dynamics model of the robot (with proper mass distribution and servo models) able to play back the DARwIn-OP motion files through its 20 DOF. It also includes the simulation of the LEDs, gyro, accelerometer and camera. Finally, it is interfaced with the DARwIn-OP gait generator library so that you can easily make it walk and turn at different paces.