What Is Pioneer?
Chapter 2
Pioneer is a family of mobile robots, both
two-wheel and four-wheel drive, including
the Pioneer 2-DX, -DXe, -CE, and -AT, and
the PeopleBot (V1 and Performance)
Mobile Robots. All are intelligent mobile
robots, whose client-server architecture
was originally developed by Kurt Konolige,
Ph.D., of SRI International, Inc. and Stanford
University.
Figure 2. ActivMedia Robots
ActivMedia’s robots are truly intelligent, off-
the-shelf mobile platforms, containing all of
the basic components for sensing and
navigation in a real-world environment,
including battery power, drive motors and
wheels, position-speed encoders, integ-
rated sensors, and accessories. They are all
managed by an onboard microcontroller
and mobile-robot server software.
Your ActivMedia robot also has a variety of expansion power and I/O ports for
attachment and close integration of additional sensors and other accessories.
Expansion includes an addressable I/O bus for up to 16 devices, two RS-232 serial ports,
eight digital I/O ports, five A/D ports, PSU controllers and more—all accessible through a
common application interface to the robot server software, P2OS.
With the onboard computer option, your ActivMedia robot becomes an autonomous
agent. With Ethernet-ready onboard autonomy, your robot even becomes an agent for
multi-intelligence work.
Figure 3. Components and some accessories of the Pioneer 2-DX, many of which
are identical for the Pioneer 2-DXE and CE.
Client Software
Your ActivMedia robot is the server in a client-server environment: It handles the low-
level details of mobile robotics, including maintaining the platform’s drive speed and
heading over uneven terrain, acquiring sensor readings, such as the sonar, and
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