Robotics simulator

A robotics simulator is used to create application for a physical robot without depending on the actual machine, thus saving cost and time. In some case, these applications can be transferred onto the physical robot (or rebuilt) without modifications.

The term robotics simulator can refer to several different robotics simulation applications. For example, in mobile robotics applications, behavior-based robotics simulators allow users to create simple worlds of rigid objects and light sources and to program robots to interact with these worlds. Behavior-based simulation allows for actions that are more biological in nature when compared to simulators that are more binary, or computational. In addition, behavior-based simulators may "learn" from mistakes and are capable of demonstrating the anthropomorphic quality of tenacity.

One of the most popular applications for robotics simulators is for 3D modeling and rendering of a robot and its environment. This type of robotics software has a simulator that is a virtual robot, which is capable of emulating the motion of an actual robot in a real work envelope. Some robotics simulators use a physics engine for more realistic motion generation of the robot. The use of a robotics simulator for development of a robotics control program is highly recommended regardless of whether an actual robot is available or not. The simulator allows for robotics programs to be conveniently written and debugged off-line with the final version of the program tested on an actual robot. This primarily holds for industrial robotic applications only, since the success of off-line programming depends on how similar the real environment of the robot is to the simulated environment.

Sensor-based robot actions are much more difficult to simulate and/or to program off-line, since the robot motion depends on the instantaneous sensor readings in the real world.

Features
Modern simulators tend to provide the following features:

Fast robot prototyping
Using the own simulator as creation tool (Virtual Robot Experimentation Platform, Webots, R-Station, Marilou, 4DV-Sim).
Using external tools.
Physics engines for realistic movements. Most simulators use ODE (Gazebo, LpzRobots, Marilou, Webots) or PhysX (Microsoft Robotics Studio, 4DV-Sim).
Realistic 3d rendering. Standard 3d modeling tools or third party tools can be used to build the environments.
Dynamic robot bodies with scripting. C, C++, Perl, Python, Java, URBI, MATLAB languages used by Webots, Python used by Gazebo.

Simulators
Among the newest technologies available today for programming are those which use a virtual simulation. Simulations with the use of virtual models of the working environment and the robots themselves can offer advantages to both the company and programmer. By using a simulation, costs are reduced, and robots can be programmed off-line which eliminates any down-time for an assembly line. Robot actions and assembly parts can be visualised in a 3-dimensional virtual environment months before prototypes are even produced. Writing code for a simulation is also easier than writing code for a physical robot. While the move toward virtual simulations for programming robots is a step forward in user interface design, many such applications are only in their infancy.

General information

Software	Developers	Development status	License	3D rendering engine	Physics engine	3D modeller	Platforms supported
Actin	Energid Technologies	Active	Proprietary	OpenGL	Proprietary	Proprietary	Windows, macOS, Linux, RTLinux, VxWorks, RTOS-32, and RTX. (QNX Planned)
ARS	RAL	Inactive	BSD	VTK	ODE	None	Linux, macOS, Windows
AUTOMAPPPS	Convergent Information Technologies GmbH	Active	Proprietary	OpenGL	unknown	Internal	Linux, Windows
Gazebo	Open Source Robotics Foundation(OSRF)	Active	Apache 2.0	OGRE	ODE/Bullet/Simbody/DART	Internal	Linux
MORSE	Academic community	Active	BSD	Blender game engine	Bullet	Blender	Linux, BSD*, macOS
OpenHRP	AIST	Active	Eclipse	Java3D	ODE/Internal	Internal	Linux, Windows
RoboDK	RoboDK	Active	Proprietary	OpenGL	none	Internal	Linux, macOS, Windows, Android
SimSpark	O. Obst et al. (+26)	Active	GNU GPL (v2)	Internal	ODE	None	Linux, macOS, Windows
V-Rep	Coppelia Robotics	Active	Proprietary/GNU GPL	Internal	ODE/Bullet/Vortex/Newton	Internal	Linux, macOS, Windows
Webots	Cyberbotics Ltd.	Active	Proprietary	Proprietary	Proprietary (based on ODE)	Proprietary	Linux, macOS, Windows
4DV-Sim	4D Virtualiz	Active	Proprietary	OGRE	PhysX	Internal	Linux
OpenRAVE	OpenRAVE Community	Active	GNU LGPL	Coin3D/OpenSceneGraph	ODE/Bullet	Internal	Linux, macOS, Windows
Software	Developers	Development status	License	3D rendering engine	Physics engine	3D modeller	Platforms supported

Technical information

Software	Main programming language	Formats support	Extensibility	External APIs	Robotics middleware support	Primary user interface	Headless simulation
Actin	C++	SLDPRT, SLDASM, STEP, OBJ, STL, 3DS, Collada, VRML, URDF, XML, ECD, ECP, ECW, ECX, ECZ,	Plugins (C++), API	Unknown	ROS	GUI	Yes (ActinRT)
ARS	Python	Unknown	Python	Unknown	None	Unknown	Unknown
AUTOMAPPPS	C++, Python	STEP, IGES, STL	Plugins (C), API	XML, C	Socket	GUI	Yes
Gazebo	C++	SDF/URDF, OBJ, STL, Collada	Plugins (C++)	C++	ROS, Player, Sockets (protobuf messages)	GUI	Yes
MORSE	Python	Unknown	Python	Python	Sockets, YARP, ROS, Pocolibs, MOOS	Command-line	Yes
OpenHRP	C++	VRML	Plugins (C++), API	C/C++, Python, Java	OpenRTM-aist	GUI	Unknown
RoboDK	Python	STEP, IGES, STL, WRML	Plugins (C++), API	C/C++, Python, Matlab	Socket	GUI	Unknown
SimSpark	C++, Ruby	Ruby Scene Graphs	Mods (C++)	Network (sexpr)	Sockets (sexpr)	GUI, Sockets	Unknown
V-Rep	LUA	OBJ, STL, DXF, 3DS, Collada, URDF	API, Add-ons, Plugins	C/C++, Python, Java, Urbi, Matlab/Octave	Sockets, ROS	GUI	Yes
Webots	C++	WBT, VRML, X3D	API, PROTOs, Plugins (C/C++)	C, C++, Python, Java, Matlab, ROS	Sockets, ROS, NaoQI	GUI	Yes
4DV-Sim	C++	3DS, OBJ, Mesh	Plugins (C++), API	FMI/FMU, Matlab	ROS, Sockets, Plug & Play interfaces	GUI	Yes
OpenRAVE	C++, Python	XML, VRML, OBJ, Collada	Plugins (C++), API	C/C++, Python, Matlab	Sockets, ROS, YARP	GUI, Sockets	Yes
Software	Main programming language	Formats support	Extensibility	External APIs	Robotic middleware support	Primary user interface	Headless simulation

Infrastructure

Support

Software	Mailing List	API Documentation	Public Forum/Help System	User Manual	Issue Tracker	Wiki
Actin	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes (Internal)	No
ARS	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
AUTOMAPPPS	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
Gazebo	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
MORSE	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
OpenHRP	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
RoboDK	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
SimSpark	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
V-Rep	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	No
Webots	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
4DV-Sim	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
OpenRAVE	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Software	Mailing List	API Documentation	Public Forum/Help System	User Manual	Issue Tracker	Wiki

Code Quality

Software	Static Code Checker	Style Checker	Test System(s)	Test Function coverage	Test Branch coverage	Lines of Code	Lines of Comments	Continuous Integration
Actin	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Jenkins
ARS	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
AUTOMAPPPS	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Gazebo	cppcheck	cpplint	gtest and qtest	46.1%	34.3%	190.7k	60.45k	Jenkins
MORSE	N/A	pylint	Python unittests	Unknown	Unknown	31.4k	9.0k	Jenkins, Travis
OpenHRP	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
RoboDK	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
SimSpark	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
V-Rep	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Webots	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
4DV-Sim	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
OpenRAVE	Unknown	Unknown	Python nose	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Jenkins
Software	Static Code Checker	Style Checker	Test System(s)	Test Function coverage	Test Branch coverage	Lines of Code	Lines of Comments	Continuous Integration

Features

Software	CAD to Motion	Dynamic Collision Avoidance	Relative End Effectors	Off-Line Programming	Real-Time Streaming Control of Hardware
Actin	Yes (Tool Paths)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
ARS	Unknown	No	Unknown	No	No
Gazebo	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
MORSE	Unknown	No	Unknown	No	No
OpenHRP	Unknown	No	Unknown	No	No
RoboDK	Unknown	No	Unknown	Yes	No
SimSpark	Unknown	No	Unknown	No	No
V-Rep	Unknown	No	Unknown	No	No
Webots	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
4DV-Sim	Unknown	No	Unknown	No	No
OpenRAVE	Unknown	No	Unknown	No	No
Software	CAD to Motion	Dynamic Collision Avoidance	Relative End Effectors	Off-line Programming	Real-time Streaming Control

Families of robots

Software	UGV (ground mobile robot)	UAV (aerial robots)	AUV (underwater robots)	Robotic arms	Robotic hands (grasping simulation)	Humanoid robots	Human avatars	Full list
Actin	Yes (Can Include Manipulators)	Yes (Can Include Manipulators)	Yes (Can Include Manipulators)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
ARS	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Gazebo	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
MORSE	Yes	Yes	Partial	Some	No	No	Yes
OpenHRP	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
RoboDK	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No
SimSpark	Yes	No	No	Maybe	Maybe	Yes	No
V-Rep	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Webots	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Webots robot models
4DV-Sim	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Maybe	No	Yes
OpenRAVE	Yes	Unknown	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Software	UGV (ground mobile robot)	UAV (aerial robots)	AUV (underwater robots)	Robotic arms	Robotic hands (grasping simulation)	Humanoid robots	Human avatars	Full list

Supported actuators

Software	Generic kinematic chains	Force-controlled motion	Full list	Circular kinematic chains	Kinematically redundant chains	Bifurcated kinematic chains
Actin	Yes	Yes	Motion Constraints	Yes	Yes	Yes
ARS	Unknown	Unknown		Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Gazebo	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes
MORSE	Yes	Yes	MORSE actuators	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
OpenHRP	Yes	Yes		Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
RoboDK	Unknown	Unknown		Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
SimSpark	Yes	No	SimSpark effectors	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
V-Rep	Yes	Yes		Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Webots	Yes	Yes	Webots actuators	Yes	Yes	Yes
4DV-Sim	Yes	Yes		Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
OpenRAVE	Yes	Yes	Joints,Extra Actuators	Yes	Yes	Yes
Software	Generic kinematic chains	Force-controlled motion	Full list	Circular kinematic chains	Kinematically redundant chains	Bifurcated kinematic chains

Supported sensors

Software	Odometry	IMU	Collision	GPS	Monocular cameras	Stereo cameras	Depth cameras	Omnidirectional cameras	2D laser scanners	3D laser scanners	Full list
Actin	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
ARS	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
AUTOMAPPPS	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes
Gazebo	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
MORSE	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes	MORSE sensors
OpenHRP	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes	OpenHRP sensors
RoboDK	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
SimSpark	Yes	Yes	Yes	Partial	Yes	Partial	Unknown	Unknown	No	No	SimSpark perceptors
V-Rep	Unknown	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes
Webots	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Webots sensors
4DV-Sim	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
OpenRAVE	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unknown	Yes	Yes
Software	Odometry	IMU	Collision	GPS	Monocular cameras	Stereo cameras	Depth cameras	Omnidirectional cameras	2D laser scanners	3D laser scanners	Full list

Other simulators

Open source simulators
breve: a 3D-world multi-agent simulator in Python.
EZPhysics: Combination of Ogre3D and ODE physics, GUI exposes all of ODE's objects data, network closed loop remote control optionally via Matlab/Simulink.
Khepera Simulator an open-source Windows simulator for the Khepera robot predating Webots.
Klamp't : a simulator introduced in 2013 specializing in stable trimesh-trimesh contact. Supports legged locomotion and manipulation.
LpzRobots: a 3D-physics robot simulator developed at the University of Leipzig.
miniBloq: This robot programing software for Arduino boards has a new simulator.
Moby: a rigid-body dynamics library written in C++.
OpenSim Simulator for articulated and wheeled robots with a wide range of characteristics. Further development stopped in the year 2006.
Robotics Toolbox for MATLAB is Free Software that provides functionality for representing pose (homogeneous transformations, Euler and RPY angles, quaternions), arm robots (forward/inverse kinematics, dynamics, simulation, animation) and mobile robots (control, localisation, planning and animation).
ARTE A Robotics Toolbox for Education (ARTE) is a Free Software educational tool based on Matlab. It provides functions to represent position and orientation. As well, includes functions to simulate robotic arms (direct/inverse kinematics, dynamics, path planning and more). The toolbox includes a large set of 3D robotic models that can be viewed and simulated inside a robotic cell.
Simbad 3d Robot Simulator Java based simulator
SimRobot: A robot simulator software package developed at the Universität Bremen and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence.
Stage: 2.5D simulator often used with Player to form the Player/Stage system. Part of the Player Project
STDR Simulator A simple, flexible and scalable 2D multi-robot simulator for use within Robot Operating System.
UCHILSIM: A physics based simulator for AIBO Robots introduced in RoboCup 2004.
UWSim : an UnderWater SIMulator for marine robotics research and development which incorporates sensor, dynamic and physics simulation.

Closed-source and proprietary simulators
anyKode Marilou
ORCA-Sim: a (Windows) 3D robot simulator using the Newton Game Dynamics physics engine.

Source from Wikipedia

Outline of robotics

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to robotics:

Robotics is a branch of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science that deals with the design, construction, operation, and application of robots, as well as computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information processing. These technologies deal with automated machines that can take the place of humans in dangerous environments or manufacturing processes, or resemble humans in appearance, behaviour, and or cognition. Many of today's robots are inspired by nature contributing to the field of bio-inspired robotics.

The word "robot" was introduced to the public by Czech writer Karel Čapek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), published in 1920. The term "robotics" was coined by Isaac Asimov in his 1941 science fiction short-story "Liar!"

Nature of robotics
Robotics can be described as:

An applied science – scientific knowledge transferred into a physical environment.
A branch of computer science –
A branch of electrical engineering –
A branch of mechanical engineering –
Research and development –
A branch of technology –

Branches of robotics
Adaptive control – control method used by a controller which must adapt to a controlled system with parameters which vary, or are initially uncertain. For example, as an aircraft flies, its mass will slowly decrease as a result of fuel consumption; a control law is needed that adapts itself to such changing conditions.
Aerial robotics – development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, aircraft without a human pilot aboard. Their flight is controlled either autonomously by onboard computers or by the remote control of a pilot on the ground or in another vehicle.
Android science – interdisciplinary framework for studying human interaction and cognition based on the premise that a very humanlike robot (that is, an android) can elicit human-directed social responses in human beings.
Anthrobotics – science of developing and studying robots that are either entirely or in some way human-like.
Artificial intelligence – the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it.
Artificial neural networks – a mathematical model inspired by biological neural networks.
Autonomous car – an autonomous vehicle capable of fulfilling the human transportation capabilities of a traditional car
Autonomous research robotics –
Bayesian network –
BEAM robotics – a style of robotics that primarily uses simple analogue circuits instead of a microprocessor in order to produce an unusually simple design (in comparison to traditional mobile robots) that trades flexibility for robustness and efficiency in performing the task for which it was designed.
Behavior-based robotics – the branch of robotics that incorporates modular or behavior based AI (BBAI).
Bio-inspired robotics – making robots that are inspired by biological systems. Biomimicry and bio-inspired design are sometimes confused. Biomimicry is copying the nature while bio-inspired design is learning from nature and making a mechanism that is simpler and more effective than the system observed in nature.
Biomimetic – see Bionics.
Biomorphic robotics – a sub-discipline of robotics focused upon emulating the mechanics, sensor systems, computing structures and methodologies used by animals.
Bionics – also known as biomimetics, biognosis, biomimicry, or bionical creativity engineering is the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology.
Biorobotics – a study of how to make robots that emulate or simulate living biological organisms mechanically or even chemically.
Cloud robotics – is a field of robotics that attempts to invoke cloud technologies such as cloud computing, cloud storage, and other Internet technologies centered around the benefits of converged infrastructure and shared services for robotics.
Cognitive robotics – views animal cognition as a starting point for the development of robotic information processing, as opposed to more traditional Artificial Intelligence techniques.
Clustering –
Computational neuroscience – study of brain function in terms of the information processing properties of the structures that make up the nervous system.
Robot control – a study of controlling robots
Robotics conventions –
Data mining Techniques –
Degrees of freedom – in mechanics, the degree of freedom (DOF) of a mechanical system is the number of independent parameters that define its configuration. It is the number of parameters that determine the state of a physical system and is important to the analysis of systems of bodies in mechanical engineering, aeronautical engineering, robotics, and structural engineering.
Developmental robotics – a methodology that uses metaphors from neural development and developmental psychology to develop the mind for autonomous robots
Digital control – a branch of control theory that uses digital computers to act as system controllers.
Digital image processing – the use of computer algorithms to perform image processing on digital images.
Dimensionality reduction – the process of reducing the number of random variables under consideration, and can be divided into feature selection and feature extraction.
Distributed robotics –
Electronic stability control – is a computerized technology that improves the safety of a vehicle's stability by detecting and reducing loss of traction (skidding).
Evolutionary computation –
Evolutionary robotics – a methodology that uses evolutionary computation to develop controllers for autonomous robots
Extended Kalman filter –
Flexible Distribution functions –
Feedback control and regulation –
Human–computer interaction – a study, planning and design of the interaction between people (users) and computers
Human robot interaction – a study of interactions between humans and robots
Intelligent vehicle technologies – comprise electronic, electromechanical, and electromagnetic devices - usually silicon micromachined components operating in conjunction with computer controlled devices and radio transceivers to provide precision repeatability functions (such as in robotics artificial intelligence systems) emergency warning validation performance reconstruction.
Computer vision –
Machine vision –
Kinematics – study of motion, as applied to robots. This includes both the design of linkages to perform motion, their power, control and stability; also their planning, such as choosing a sequence of movements to achieve a broader task.
Laboratory robotics – the act of using robots in biology or chemistry labs
Robot learning – learning to perform tasks such as obstacle avoidance, control and various other motion-related tasks
Direct manipulation interface – In computer science, direct manipulation is a human–computer interaction style which involves continuous representation of objects of interest and rapid, reversible, and incremental actions and feedback. The intention is to allow a user to directly manipulate objects presented to them, using actions that correspond at least loosely to the physical world.
Manifold learning –
Microrobotics – a field of miniature robotics, in particular mobile robots with characteristic dimensions less than 1 mm
Motion planning – (a.k.a., the "navigation problem", the "piano mover's problem") is a term used in robotics for the process of detailing a task into discrete motions.
Motor control – information processing related activities carried out by the central nervous system that organize the musculoskeletal system to create coordinated movements and skilled actions.
Nanorobotics – the emerging technology field creating machines or robots whose components are at or close to the scale of a nanometer (10−9 meters).
Passive dynamics – refers to the dynamical behavior of actuators, robots, or organisms when not drawing energy from a supply (e.g., batteries, fuel, ATP).
Programming by Demonstration – an End-user development technique for teaching a computer or a robot new behaviors by demonstrating the task to transfer directly instead of programming it through machine commands.
Quantum robotics – a subfield of robotics that deals with using quantum computers to run robotics algorithms more quickly than digital computers can.
Rapid prototyping – automatic construction of physical objects via additive manufacturing from virtual models in computer aided design (CAD) software, transforming them into thin, virtual, horizontal cross-sections and then producing successive layers until the items are complete. As of June 2011, used for making models, prototype parts, and production-quality parts in relatively small numbers.
Reinforcement learning – an area of machine learning in computer science, concerned with how an agent ought to take actions in an environment so as to maximize some notion of cumulative reward.
Robot kinematics – applies geometry to the study of the movement of multi-degree of freedom kinematic chains that form the structure of robotic systems.
Robot locomotion – collective name for the various methods that robots use to transport themselves from place to place.
Robot programming –
Robotic mapping – the goal for an autonomous robot to be able to construct (or use ) a map or floor plan and to localize itself in it
Robotic surgery – computer-assisted surgery, and robotically-assisted surgery are terms for technological developments that use robotic systems to aid in surgical procedures.
Robot-assisted heart surgery –
Sensors – (also called detector) is a converter that measures a physical quantity and converts it into a signal which can be read by an observer or by an (today mostly electronic) instrument.
Simultaneous localization and mapping – a technique used by robots and autonomous vehicles to build up a map within an unknown environment (without a priori knowledge), or to update a map within a known environment (with a priori knowledge from a given map), while at the same time keeping track of their current location.
Software engineering – the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the design, development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software.
Speech processing – study of speech signals and the processing methods of these signals. The signals are usually processed in a digital representation, so speech processing can be regarded as a special case of digital signal processing, applied to speech signal.[clarification needed] Aspects of speech processing includes the acquisition, manipulation, storage, transfer and output of digital speech signals.
Support vector machines – supervised learning models with associated learning algorithms that analyze data and recognize patterns, used for classification and regression analysis.
Swarm robotics – involves large numbers of mostly simple physical robots. Their actions may seek to incorporate emergent behavior observed in social insects (swarm intelligence).
Ant robotics – swarm robots that can communicate via markings, similar to ants that lay and follow pheromone trails.
Telepresence – refers to a set of technologies which allow a person to feel as if they were present, to give the appearance of being present, or to have an effect, via telerobotics, at a place other than their true location.
Ubiquitous robotics – integrating robotic technologies with technologies from the fields of ubiquitous and pervasive computing, sensor networks, and ambient intelligence.

Contributing fields
Robotics incorporates aspects of many disciplines including electronics, engineering, mechanics, software and arts. The design and control of robots relies on many fields knowledge, including:

General
Aerospace –
Biology –
Biomechanics –

Computer science –
Artificial Intelligence –
Computational linguistics –
Cloud computing –
Cybernetics –
Modal logic –

Engineering –
Acoustical engineering –
Automotive engineering –
Chemical engineering –
Control engineering –
Electrical engineering –
Electronic engineering –
Mechanical engineering –
Mechatronics engineering –
Microelectromechanical engineering –
Nanoengineering –
Optical engineering –
Safety engineering –
Software engineering –
Telecommunications –

Fiction – Robotics technology and its implications are major themes in science fiction and have provided inspiration for robotics development and cause for ethical concerns. Robots are portrayed in short stories and novels, in movies, in TV shows, in theatrical productions, in web based media, in computer games, and in comic books. See List of fictional robots and androids.
Film – See Robots in film.
Literature – fictional autonomous artificial servants have a long history in human culture. Today's most pervasive trope of robots, developing self-awareness and rebelling against their creators, dates only from the early 20th century. See Robots in literature.
The Three Laws of Robotics in popular culture

Military science –

Psychology –
Cognitive science –
Behavioral science –

Philosophy –
Ethics –

Physics –
Dynamics –
Kinematics –

Fields of application – additionally, contributing fields include the specific field(s) a particular robot is being designed for. Expertise in surgical procedures and anatomy, for instance would be required for designing robotic surgery applications.

Related fields
Building automation –
Home automation –
Assistive technology
Cloud robotics

Related fields
Building automation –
Home automation –
Assistive technology
Cloud robotics

Robots

Types of robots
Autonomous robots – robots that are not controlled by humans:

Aerobot – robot capable of independent flight on other planets
Android – humanoid robot; resembling the shape or form of a human
Automaton – early self-operating robot, performing exactly the same actions, over and over
Autonomous vehicle – vehicle equipped with an autopilot system, which is capable of driving from one point to another without input from a human operator
Ballbot – dynamically-stable mobile robot designed to balance on a single spherical wheel (i.e., a ball)
Cyborg – also known as a cybernetic organism, a being with both biological and artificial (e.g. electronic, mechanical or robotic) parts
Explosive ordnance disposal robot – mobile robot designed to assess whether an object contains explosives; some carry detonators that can be deposited at the object and activated after the robot withdraws
Gynoid – humanoid robot designed to look like a human female
Hexapod (walker) – a six-legged walking robot, using a simple insect-like locomotion
Industrial robot – reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through variable programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks
3D printer
Insect robot – small robot designed to imitate insect behaviors rather than complex human behaviors.
Microbot – microscopic robots designed to go into the human body and cure diseases
Military robot – exosuit which is capable of merging with its user for enhanced strength, speed, handling, etc.
Mobile robot – self-propelled and self-contained robot that is capable of moving over a mechanically unconstrained course.
Cruise missile – robot-controlled guided missile that carries an explosive payload.
Music entertainment robot – robot created to perform music entertainment by playing custom made instrument or human developed instruments.
Nanobot – the same as a microbot, but smaller. The components are at or close to the scale of a nanometer (10−9 meters).
Prosthetic robot – programmable manipulator or device replacing a missing human limb.
Rover – a robot with wheels designed to walk on other planets' terrain
Service robot – machines that extend human capabilities.
Snakebot – robot or robotic component resembling a tentacle or elephant's trunk, where many small actuators are used to allow continuous curved motion of a robot component, with many degrees of freedom. This is usually applied to snake-arm robots, which use this as a flexible manipulator. A rarer application is the snakebot, where the entire robot is mobile and snake-like, so as to gain access through narrow spaces.
Surgical robot – remote manipulator used for keyhole surgery
Walking robot – robot capable of locomotion by walking. Owing to the difficulties of balance, two-legged walking robots have so far been rare, and most walking robots have used insect-like multilegged walking gaits.

By mode of locomotion
Mobile robots may be classified by:

The environment in which they travel:
Land or home robots. They are most commonly wheeled, but also include legged robots with two or more legs (humanoid, or resembling animals or insects).
Aerial robots are usually referred to as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Underwater robots are usually called autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs).
Polar robots, designed to navigate icy, crevasse filled environments

The device they use to move, mainly:
Legged robot – human-like legs (i.e. an android) or animal-like legs
Tracks
Wheeled robot

Robot components and design features
Actuator – motor that translates control signals into mechanical movement. The control signals are usually electrical but may, more rarely, be pneumatic or hydraulic. The power supply may likewise be any of these. It is common for electrical control to be used to modulate a high-power pneumatic or hydraulic motor.
Linear actuator – form of motor that generates a linear movement directly.
Delta robot – tripod linkage, used to construct fast-acting manipulators with a wide range of movement.
Drive power – energy source or sources for the robot actuators.
End-effector – accessory device or tool specifically designed for attachment to the robot wrist or tool mounting plate to enable the robot to perform its intended task. (Examples may include gripper, spot-weld gun, arc-weld gun, spray- paint gun, or any other application tools.)
Forward chaining – process in which events or received data are considered by an entity to intelligently adapt its behavior.
Haptic – tactile feedback technology using the operator's sense of touch. Also sometimes applied to robot manipulators with their own touch sensitivity.
Hexapod (platform) – movable platform using six linear actuators. Often used in flight simulators and fairground rides, they also have applications as a robotic manipulator.
See Stewart platform
Hydraulics – control of mechanical force and movement, generated by the application of liquid under pressure. c.f. pneumatics.
Kalman filter – mathematical technique to estimate the value of a sensor measurement, from a series of intermittent and noisy values.
Klann linkage – simple linkage for walking robots.
Manipulator – gripper. A robotic 'hand'.
Parallel manipulator – articulated robot or manipulator based on a number of kinematic chains, actuators and joints, in parallel. c.f. serial manipulator.
Remote manipulator – manipulator under direct human control, often used for work with hazardous materials.
Serial manipulator – articulated robot or manipulator with a single series kinematic chain of actuators. c.f. parallel manipulator.
Muting – deactivation of a presence-sensing safeguarding device during a portion of the robot cycle.
Pendant – Any portable control device that permits an operator to control the robot from within the restricted envelope (space) of the robot.
Pneumatics – control of mechanical force and movement, generated by the application of compressed gas. c.f. hydraulics.
Servo – motor that moves to and maintains a set position under command, rather than continuously moving
Servomechanism – automatic device that uses error-sensing negative feedback to correct the performance of a mechanism
Single point of control – ability to operate the robot such that initiation or robot motion from one source of control is possible only from that source and cannot be overridden from another source
Slow speed control – mode of robot motion control where the velocity of the robot is limited to allow persons sufficient time either to withdraw the hazardous motion or stop the robot
Stepper motor
Stewart platform – movable platform using six linear actuators, hence also known as a Hexapod
Subsumption architecture – robot architecture that uses a modular, bottom-up design beginning with the least complex behavioral tasks
Teach mode – control state that allows the generation and storage of positional data points effected by moving the robot arm through a path of intended motions

Specific robots
Aura (satellite) – robotic spacecraft launched by NASA in 2004 which collects atmospheric data from Earth
Chandra X-ray Observatory – robotic spacecraft launched by NASA in 1999 to collect astronomical data
Justin
Robonaut – development project conducted by NASA to create humanoid robots capable of using space tools and working in similar environments to suited astronauts
Unimate – the first off-the-shelf industrial robot, of 1961

Future of robotics
Future of robotics

Artificial general intelligence
Soft robotics
Robotics development and development tools
Arduino – current platform of choice for small-scale robotic experimentation and physical computing.
CAD/CAM (computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing) – these systems and their data may be integrated into robotic operations.
Cleanroom – environment that has a low level of environmental pollutants such as dust, airborne microbes, aerosol particles and chemical vapors; often used in robot assembly.
Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio
Player Project
Robot Operating System
Gazebo, a robotics simulator

Robotics principles
Artificial intelligence – intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it.
Degrees of freedom – extent to which a robot can move itself; expressed in terms of Cartesian coordinates (x, y, and z) and angular movements (yaw, pitch, and roll).
Emergent behaviour – complicated resultant behaviour that emerges from the repeated operation of simple underlying behaviours.
Envelope (Space), Maximum – volume of space encompassing the maximum designed movements of all robot parts including the end-effector, workpiece, and attachments.
Humanoid – resembling a human being in form, function, or both.
Roboethics
Three Laws of Robotics – coined by the science fiction author Isaac Asimov, one of the first serious considerations of the ethics and robopsychological aspects of robotics.
Tool Center Point (TCP) – origin of the tool coordinate system.
Uncanny valley – hypothesized point at which humanoid robot behavior and appearance is so close to that of actual humans yet not precise or fully featured enough as to cause a sense of revulsion.

Robotics competitions
Robot competition

National ElectroniX Olympiad
ABU Robocon
BEST Robotics
Botball
DARPA Grand Challenge – prize competition for American autonomous vehicles, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the most prominent research organization of the United States Department of Defense.

DARPA Robotics Challenge – prize competition funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Held from 2012 to 2014, it aims to develop semi-autonomous ground robots that can do "complex tasks in dangerous, degraded, human-engineered environments."
Initial task requirements
Drive a utility vehicle at the site
Travel dismounted across rubble
Remove debris blocking an entryway
Open a door and enter a building
Climb an industrial ladder and traverse an industrial walkway
Use a tool to break through a concrete panel
Locate and close a valve near a leaking pipe
Connect a fire hose to a standpipe and turn on a valve

Teams making the finals
SCHAFT
IHMC Robotics
Tartan Rescue
MIT
RoboSimian
Team TRACLabs
WRECS
TROOPER

Defcon Robot Contest
Duke Annual Robo-Climb Competition
Eurobot
European Land-Robot Trial
FIRST Junior Lego League
FIRST Lego League
FIRST Robotics Competition
FIRST Tech Challenge
International Aerial Robotics Competition
Micromouse
National Engineering Robotics Contest
RoboCup
Robofest
RoboGames
RoboSub
Student Robotics
UAV Outback Challenge
World Robot Olympiad

Source from Wikipedia

Humanoid robot

A humanoid robot is a robot with its body shape built to resemble the human body. The design may be for functional purposes, such as interacting with human tools and environments, for experimental purposes, such as the study of al locomotion, or for other purposes. In general, humanoid robots have a torso, a head, two arms, and two legs, though some forms of humanoid robots may model only part of the body, for example, from the waist up. Some humanoid robots also have heads designed to replicate human facial features such as eyes and mouths. Androids are humanoid robots built to aesthetically resemble humans.

Purpose
Humanoid robots are now used as research tools in several scientific areas. Researchers study the human body structure and behavior (biomechanics) to build humanoid robots. On the other side, the attempt to simulate the human body leads to a better understanding of it. Human cognition is a field of study which is focused on how humans learn from sensory information in order to acquire perceptual and motor skills. This knowledge is used to develop computational models of human behavior and it has been improving over time.

It has been suggested that very advanced robotics will facilitate the enhancement of ordinary humans. See transhumanism.

Although the initial aim of humanoid research was to build better orthosis and prosthesis for human beings, knowledge has been transferred between both disciplines. A few examples are powered leg prosthesis for neuromuscularly impaired, ankle-foot orthosis, biological realistic leg prosthesis and forearm prosthesis.

Besides the research, humanoid robots are being developed to perform human tasks like personal assistance, through which they should be able to assist the sick and elderly, and dirty or dangerous jobs. Humanoids are also suitable for some procedurally-based vocations, such as reception-desk administrators and automotive manufacturing line workers. In essence, since they can use tools and operate equipment and vehicles designed for the human form, humanoids could theoretically perform any task a human being can, so long as they have the proper software. However, the complexity of doing so is immense.

They are also becoming increasingly popular as entertainers. For example, Ursula, a female robot, sings, plays music, dances and speaks to her audiences at Universal Studios. Several Disney theme park shows utilize animatronic robots that look, move and speak much like human beings. Although these robots look realistic, they have no cognition or physical autonomy. Various humanoid robots and their possible applications in daily life are featured in an independent documentary film called Plug & Pray, which was released in 2010.

Humanoid robots, especially those with artificial intelligence algorithms, could be useful for future dangerous and/or distant space exploration missions, without having the need to turn back around again and return to Earth once the mission is completed.

Sensors
A sensor is a device that measures some attribute of the world. Being one of the three primitives of robotics (besides planning and control), sensing plays an important role in robotic paradigms.

Sensors can be classified according to the physical process with which they work or according to the type of measurement information that they give as output. In this case, the second approach was used.

Proprioceptive sensors
Proprioceptive sensors sense the position, the orientation and the speed of the humanoid's body and joints.

In human beings the otoliths and semi-circular canals (in the inner ear) are used to maintain balance and orientation. In addition humans use their own proprioceptive sensors (e.g. touch, muscle extension, limb position) to help with their orientation. Humanoid robots use accelerometers to measure the acceleration, from which velocity can be calculated by integration; tilt sensors to measure inclination; force sensors placed in robot's hands and feet to measure contact force with environment; position sensors, that indicate the actual position of the robot (from which the velocity can be calculated by derivation) or even speed sensors.

Exteroceptive sensors
Arrays of tactels can be used to provide data on what has been touched. The Shadow Hand uses an array of 34 tactels arranged beneath its polyurethane skin on each finger tip. Tactile sensors also provide information about forces and torques transferred between the robot and other objects.

Vision refers to processing data from any modality which uses the electromagnetic spectrum to produce an image. In humanoid robots it is used to recognize objects and determine their properties. Vision sensors work most similarly to the eyes of human beings. Most humanoid robots use CCD cameras as vision sensors.

Sound sensors allow humanoid robots to hear speech and environmental sounds, and perform as the ears of the human being. Microphones are usually used for this task.

Actuators
Actuators are the motors responsible for motion in the robot.

Humanoid robots are constructed in such a way that they mimic the human body, so they use actuators that perform like muscles and joints, though with a different structure. To achieve the same effect as human motion, humanoid robots use mainly rotary actuators. They can be either electric, pneumatic, hydraulic, piezoelectric or ultrasonic.

Hydraulic and electric actuators have a very rigid behavior and can only be made to act in a compliant manner through the use of relatively complex feedback control strategies. While electric coreless motor actuators are better suited for high speed and low load applications, hydraulic ones operate well at low speed and high load applications.

Piezoelectric actuators generate a small movement with a high force capability when voltage is applied. They can be used for ultra-precise positioning and for generating and handling high forces or pressures in static or dynamic situations.

Ultrasonic actuators are designed to produce movements in a micrometer order at ultrasonic frequencies (over 20 kHz). They are useful for controlling vibration, positioning applications and quick switching.

Pneumatic actuators operate on the basis of gas compressibility. As they are inflated, they expand along the axis, and as they deflate, they contract. If one end is fixed, the other will move in a linear trajectory. These actuators are intended for low speed and low/medium load applications. Between pneumatic actuators there are: cylinders, bellows, pneumatic engines, pneumatic stepper motors and pneumatic artificial muscles.

Planning and control
In planning and control, the essential difference between humanoids and other kinds of robots (like industrial ones) is that the movement of the robot has to be human-like, using legged locomotion, especially biped gait. The ideal planning for humanoid movements during normal walking should result in minimum energy consumption, as it does in the human body. For this reason, studies on dynamics and control of these kinds of structures has become increasingly important.

The question of walking biped robots stabilization on the surface is of great importance. Maintenance of the robot’s gravity center over the center of bearing area for providing a stable position can be chosen as a goal of control.

To maintain dynamic balance during the walk, a robot needs information about contact force and its current and desired motion. The solution to this problem relies on a major concept, the Zero Moment Point (ZMP).

Another characteristic of humanoid robots is that they move, gather information (using sensors) on the "real world" and interact with it. They don’t stay still like factory manipulators and other robots that work in highly structured environments. To allow humanoids to move in complex environments, planning and control must focus on self-collision detection, path planning and obstacle avoidance.

Humanoid robots do not yet have some features of the human body. They include structures with variable flexibility, which provide safety (to the robot itself and to the people), and redundancy of movements, i.e. more degrees of freedom and therefore wide task availability. Although these characteristics are desirable to humanoid robots, they will bring more complexity and new problems to planning and control. The field of whole-body control deals with these issues and addresses the proper coordination of numerous degrees of freedom, e.g. to realize several control tasks simultaneously while following a given order of priority.

Research and Development
The development of humanoid robots is based on two main motives:

Artificial intelligence
Today, many scientists believe that the construction of a functional humanoid robot is the foundation for the creation of human-like artificial intelligence (AI). According to this view, AI can not be easily programmed but results from a learning process. This viewpoint is based on observations from learning psychology. The robot with AI should actively participate in the social life of man and learn by observation , interaction and communication . The basis of communication is an underlying motivationon both sides, which at least initially resembles that in the parent-child relationship. The AI of the robot can develop optimally only if it is already recognized in its minimum functionality as an equivalent being. For this he must have a human form, mobility and sensors . The current goal is therefore a high-quality technical copy of human physiology. This particular technological challenge leads to separate research groups working together for complex sub-aspects. Examples include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 's Leg Laboratory , the humanoid robotic project COG and the AI project Kismet .

Multifunctional working machine
Cost-intensive commercial or government-sponsored humanoid robot projects prove a high expectation of the future economic viability of such systems. The human habitat (buildings, means of transport, tools or devices) is economically oriented for cost reasons and is particularly oriented to human physiology. A mass-produced, multi-functional, humanoid robotic learning robot eliminates the need to produce, distribute and entertain many specialty robots. Especially activities that consist of several complicated operations, could be done easily. People should be helped by a multifunctional helper who spares them time, work or time in their environment or who provides entertainment. Japan, like Germany, has a strong aging population. One hopes, Through the consistent use of these all-rounders to support seniors in everyday life or to relieve nursing staff. To increase the acceptance of robots in society, researches the Socially Intelligent Machines Lab of theGeorgia Institute of Technology on the social skills of humanoid robots.

Timeline of developments

Year	Development
c. 250 BC	The Liezi described an automaton.
c. 50 AD	Greek mathematician Hero of Alexandria described a machine that automatically pours wine for party guests.
1206	Al-Jazari described a band made up of humanoid automata which, according to Charles B. Fowler, performed "more than fifty facial and body actions during each musical selection." Al-Jazari also created hand washing automata with automatic humanoid servants, and an elephant clock incorporating an automatic humanoid mahout striking a cymbal on the half-hour. His programmable "castle clock" also featured five musician automata which automatically played music when moved by levers operated by a hidden camshaft attached to a water wheel.
1495	Leonardo da Vinci designs a humanoid automaton that looks like an armored knight, known as Leonardo's robot.
1738	Jacques de Vaucanson builds The Flute Player, a life-size figure of a shepherd that could play twelve songs on the flute and The Tambourine Player that played a flute and a drum or tambourine.
1774	Pierre Jacquet-Droz and his son Henri-Louis created the Draughtsman, the Musicienne and the Writer, a figure of a boy that could write messages up to 40 characters long.
1898	Nikola Tesla publicly demonstrates his "automaton" technology by wirelessly controlling a model boat at the Electrical Exposition held at Madison Square Garden in New York City during the height of the Spanish–American War.
1921	Czech writer Karel Čapek introduced the word "robot" in his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots). The word "robot" comes from the word "robota", meaning, in Czech and Polish, "labour, drudgery".
1927	The Maschinenmensch ("machine-human"), a gynoid humanoid robot, also called "Parody", "Futura", "Robotrix", or the "Maria impersonator" (played by German actress Brigitte Helm), perhaps the most memorable humanoid robot ever to appear on film, is depicted in Fritz Lang's film Metropolis.
1928	The electrical robot Eric opens an exhibition of the Society of Model Engineers at London's Royal Horticultural Hall in London, and tours the world
1941-42	Isaac Asimov formulates the Three Laws of Robotics, used in his robot science fiction stories, and in the process of doing so, coins the word "robotics".
1948	Norbert Wiener formulates the principles of cybernetics, the basis of practical robotics.
1961	The first digitally operated and programmable non-humanoid robot, the Unimate, is installed on a General Motors assembly line to lift hot pieces of metal from a die casting machine and stack them. It was created by George Devol and constructed by Unimation, the first robot manufacturing company.
1967 to 1972	Waseda University initiated the WABOT project in 1967, and in 1972 completed the WABOT-1, the world's first full-scale humanoid intelligent robot. It was the first android, able to walk, communicate with a person in Japanese (with an artificial mouth), measure distances and directions to the objects using external receptors (artificial ears and eyes), and grip and transport objects with hands.
1969	D.E. Whitney publishes his article "Resolved motion rate control of manipulators and human prosthesis".
1970	Miomir Vukobratović has proposed Zero Moment Point, a theoretical model to explain biped locomotion.
1972	Miomir Vukobratović and his associates at Mihajlo Pupin Institute build the first active anthropomorphic exoskeleton.
1980	Marc Raibert established the MIT Leg Lab, which is dedicated to studying legged locomotion and building dynamic legged robots.
1983	Using MB Associates arms, "Greenman" was developed by Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, San Diego. It had an exoskeletal master controller with kinematic equivalency and spatial correspondence of the torso, arms, and head. Its vision system consisted of two 525-line video cameras each having a 35-degree field of view and video camera eyepiece monitors mounted in an aviator's helmet.
1984	At Waseda University, the Wabot-2 is created, a musician humanoid robot able to communicate with a person, read a normal musical score with his eyes and play tunes of average difficulty on an electronic organ.
1985	Developed by Hitachi Ltd, WHL-11 is a biped robot capable of static walking on a flat surface at 13 seconds per step and it can also turn.
1985	WASUBOT is another musician robot from Waseda University. It performed a concerto with the NHK Symphony Orchestra at the opening ceremony of the International Science and Technology Exposition.
1986	Honda developed seven biped robots which were designated E0 (Experimental Model 0) through E6. E0 was in 1986, E1 – E3 were done between 1987 and 1991, and E4 - E6 were done between 1991 and 1993.
1989	Manny was a full-scale anthropomorphic robot with 42 degrees of freedom developed at Battelle's Pacific Northwest Laboratories in Richland, Washington, for the US Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. It could not walk on its own but it could crawl, and had an artificial respiratory system to simulate breathing and sweating.
1990	Tad McGeer showed that a biped mechanical structure with knees could walk passively down a sloping surface.
1993	Honda developed P1 (Prototype Model 1) through P3, an evolution from E series, with upper limbs. Developed until 1997.
1995	Hadaly was developed in Waseda University to study human-robot communication and has three subsystems: a head-eye subsystem, a voice control system for listening and speaking in Japanese, and a motion-control subsystem to use the arms to point toward campus destinations.
1995	Wabian is a human-size biped walking robot from Waseda University.
1996	Saika, a light-weight, human-size and low-cost humanoid robot, was developed at Tokyo University. Saika has a two-DOF neck, dual five-DOF upper arms, a torso and a head. Several types of hands and forearms are under development also. Developed until 1998.
1997	Hadaly-2, developed at Waseda University, is a humanoid robot which realizes interactive communication with humans. It communicates not only informationally, but also physically.
2000	Honda creates its 11th bipedal humanoid robot, able to run, ASIMO.
2001	Sony unveils small humanoid entertainment robots, dubbed Sony Dream Robot (SDR). Renamed Qrio in 2003.
2001	Fujitsu realized its first commercial humanoid robot named HOAP-1. Its successors HOAP-2 and HOAP-3 were announced in 2003 and 2005, respectively. HOAP is designed for a broad range of applications for R&D of robot technologies.
2002	HRP-2, biped walking robot built by the Manufacturing Science and Technology Center (MSTC) in Tokyo.
2003	JOHNNIE, an autonomous biped walking robot built at the Technical University of Munich. The main objective was to realize an anthropomorphic walking machine with a human-like, dynamically stable gait.
2003	Actroid, a robot with realistic silicone "skin" developed by Osaka University in conjunction with Kokoro Company Ltd.
2004	Persia, Iran's first humanoid robot, was developed using realistic simulation by researchers of Isfahan University of Technology in conjunction with ISTT.
2004	KHR-1, a programmable bipedal humanoid robot introduced in June 2004 by a Japanese company Kondo Kagaku.
2005	The PKD Android, a conversational humanoid robot made in the likeness of science fiction novelist Philip K Dick, was developed as a collaboration between Hanson Robotics, the FedEx Institute of Technology, and the University of Memphis.
2005	Wakamaru, a Japanese domestic robot made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, primarily intended to provide companionship to elderly and disabled people.
2005	The Geminoid series is a series of ultra-realistic humanoid robots or Actroid developed by Hiroshi Ishiguro of ATR and Kokoro in Tokyo. The original one, Geminoid HI-1 was made at its image. Followed Geminoid-F in 2010 and Geminoid-DK in 2011.
2006	Nao is a small open source programmable humanoid robot developed by Aldebaran Robotics, in France. Widely used by worldwide universities as a research platform and educational tool.
2006	RoboTurk is designed and realized by Dr Davut Akdas and Dr Sabri Bicakci at Balikesir University. This Research Project Sponsored By The Scientific And Technological Research Council Of Turkey (TUBITAK) in 2006. RoboTurk is successor of biped robots named "Salford Lady" and "Gonzalez" at university of Salford in the UK. It is the first humanoid robot supported by Turkish Government.
2006	REEM-A was the first fully autonomous European biped humanoid robot, designed to play chess with the Hydra Chess engine. The first robot developed by PAL Robotics, it was also used as a walking, manipulation, speech and vision development platform.
2006	iCub, a biped humanoid open source robot for cognition research.
2006	Mahru, a network-based biped humanoid robot developed in South Korea.
2007	TOPIO, a ping pong playing robot developed by TOSY Robotics JSC.
2007	Twendy-One, a robot developed by the WASEDA University Sugano Laboratory for home assistance services. It is not biped, as it uses an omni-directional mobile mechanism.
2008	Justin, a humanoid robot developed by the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
2008	KT-X, the first international humanoid robot developed as a collaboration between the five-time consecutive RoboCup champions, Team Osaka, and KumoTek Robotics.
2008	Nexi, the first mobile, dexterous and social robot, makes its public debut as one of TIME magazine's top inventions of the year. The robot was built through a collaboration between the MIT Media Lab Personal Robots Group, UMass Amherst and Meka robotics.
2008	Salvius, The first open source humanoid robot built in the United States is created.
2008	REEM-B, the second biped humanoid robot developed by PAL Robotics. It has the ability to autonomously learn its environment using various sensors and carry 20% of its own weight.
2008	Surena, This robot was introduced in December 13, 2008. It had a height of 165 centimetres and weight of 60 kilograms, and is able to speak according to predefined text. It also has remote control and tracking ability.
2009	HRP-4C, a Japanese domestic robot made by National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, shows human characteristics in addition to bipedal walking.
2009	Turkey's first dynamically walking humanoid robot, SURALP, is developed by Sabanci University in conjunction with Tubitak.
2009	Kobian, a robot developed by WASEDA University can walk, talk and mimic emotions.
2009	DARwIn-OP, an open source robot developed by ROBOTIS in collaboration with Virginia Tech, Purdue University, and University of Pennsylvania. This project was supported and sponsored by NSF.
2010	NASA and General Motors revealed Robonaut 2, a very advanced humanoid robot. It was part of the payload of Shuttle Discovery on the successful launch February 24, 2011. It is intended to do spacewalks for NASA.
2010	Researchers at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology demonstrate their humanoid robot HRP-4C singing and dancing along with human dancers.
2010	In September the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology also demonstrates the humanoid robot HRP-4. The HRP-4 resembles the HRP-4C in some regards but is called "athletic" and is not a gynoid.
2010	REEM, a humanoid service robot with a wheeled mobile base. Developed by PAL Robotics, it can perform autonomous navigation in various surroundings and has voice and face recognition capabilities.
2011	Robot Auriga was developed by Ali Özgün HIRLAK and Burak Özdemir in 2011 at University of Cukurova. Auriga is the first brain controlled robot, designed in Turkey. Auriga can service food and medicine to paralysed people by patient's thoughts. EEG technology is adapted for manipulation of the robot. The project was supported by Turkish Government.
2011	In November Honda unveiled its second generation Honda Asimo Robot. The all new Asimo is the first version of the robot with semi-autonomous capabilities.
2012	In April, the Advanced Robotics Department in Italian Institute of Technology released its first version of the COmpliant huMANoid robot COMAN which is designed for robust dynamic walking and balancing in rough terrain.
2013	On December 20–21, 2013 DARPA Robotics Challenge ranked the top 16 humanoid robots competing for the US$2 million cash prize. The leading team, SCHAFT, with 27 out of a possible score of 30 was bought by Google. PAL Robotics launches REEM-C the first humanoid biped robot developed as a robotics research platform 100% ROS based.
2014	Manav – India's first 3D printed humanoid robot developed in the laboratory of A-SET Training and Research Institutes by Diwakar Vaish(head Robotics and Research, A-SET Training and Research Institutes).
2014	After the acquisition of Aldebaran, SoftBank Robotics releases the Pepper robot available for everyone.
2015	Nadine is a female humanoid social robot designed in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and modelled on its director Professor Nadia Magnenat Thalmann. Nadine is a socially intelligent robot which returns greetings, makes eye contact, and remembers all the conversations it has had.
2015	Sophia is a humanoid robot developed by "Hanson Robotics", Hong Kong, and modelled after Audrey Hepburn. Sophia has artificial intelligence, visual data processing and facial recognition.
2016	OceanOne, developed by a team at Stanford University, led by computer science professor Oussama Khatib, completes its first mission, diving for treasure in a shipwreck off the coast of France, at a depth of 100 meters. The robot is controlled remotely, has haptic sensors in its hands, and artificial intelligence capabilities.
2017	PAL Robotics launches TALOS, a fully electrical humanoid robot with joint torque sensors and EtherCAT communication technology that can manipulate up to 6Kg payload in each of its grippers.

Humanoid Robots portrayed in 21st-century films and television shows
In the selected 21st-century films and television shows, humanoid robots (sometimes also referred to as "synthetic humans" or "replicants") are portrayed which can transcend the "uncanny valley". Some of these films and television shows depict a future in which anyone can buy a humanoid robot, which has resulted in supposed improvements in many areas, including elderly care and social companionship. These films and television shows score over 60% for the Average Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes. Humanoid robots may be considered a threat by humans, especially if they become capable of simulating human consciousness.

TV Show	Average Tomatometer	Release Date	Seasons
Humans	91%	14 June 2015	3 (as of 19/05/2018)
Altered Carbon	65%	2 February 2018	1 (as of 19/05/2018)

Movie	Average Tomatometer	Release Date
Ex Machina	92%	7 May 2015
Blade Runner 2049	87%	5 October 2017
Prometheus	73%	7 June 2012

Source from Wikipedia

Robot competition

A robotic competition is an event where robots have to accomplish a task. Usually they have to beat other robots in order to become the best one. Many competitions are for schools but several professional competitions are arising.

Types of competition.
Currently there are several kinds of competitions, the most popular in several countries being line tracking, labyrinth, Cowbots, Sumo wrestling and bipedal races.

Speedsters
In this competition, the participating robots must complete a closed circuit running against each other.

Line tracking
In this competition, the participating robots must follow a line drawn on the ground in the shortest possible time. The complexity of the route may vary.

Labyrinth.
There are different variants of the labyrinth competition. The test may consist of traversing a labyrinth and finding the exit, or it may include, in addition, the additional proof that the robot must find and remove from the labyrinth one or more objects located at different points of the labyrinth. The labyrinth can be made with walls delimiting the possible paths, or drawn on the ground with a line.

Cowbots.
In this test, two robots face each other in a combat arena of a previously known measure. Both robots have a remote weapon and a weapon for close combat. The remote weapon consists of a launcher of some type of projectile, usually very light, that does not cause damage to its objective. The two robots must face each other in the combat zone until one of the two is hit by a projectile from the other, or by their direct fighting weapon.

Sumo.
In this style of competition two robots face within a defined area; The idea is that both try to get mutually out of this area.

Race bipeds.
While in the competitions mentioned above the robots usually have a rounded structure, in the bipedal race face robots whose movement uses two lower extremities (analogous to the lower extremities of the bipedal animals). Robots compete in a straight line, with the winner being the robot that traverses the defined path first.

History
Robotic competitions have been organized since the 1970s and 1980s. In 1979 a Micromouse competition was organized by the IEEE as shown in the Spectrum magazine.

Although it is difficult to pinpoint the first robotic competition in history two events are well known nowadays for their longevity: the All Japan Sumo from Japan, and the Trinity College International Fire fighting Robot Contest.

Other competitions have grown in popularity with the pass of time, being the Robocup and the Robo One two of the main singular events in current times. In parallel companies like Lego and VEX have developed their own branded events and called them leagues, although they function more like individual cups in regional qualifiers with finals.

There is some controversy whether university specific challenges should be considered competitions or more workshops, in general the trend is to open competitions to the public in order to prevent nepotism and improve the quality of the robots competing at the event.

Some organizations have been trying to standardize robotics competition through the introduction of full-fledged leagues with a standard calendar, but the model as been only working in specific countries like Spain where the National League was founded in 2008 and is still functioning.

Criteria to classify robot competitions
There are many criteria that can be used to classify robot competitions which makes it hard to establish a standard way of referring to them:

Popularity with public or competitors
Indoors versus Outdoors
Branded materials (Lego or VEX) versus Open materials
Minors / students versus Professionals / clubs
Itinerant (Robocup) versus Fixed-location (All Japan Sumo)
Nature of movement: humanoid, wheeled, aerial, aquatic, underwater,...

Competitions

Major competitions and organizations
All these competitions are indoors, itinerant in their location and showcase different categories. The competitions in this listing have a yearly recurrent major impact in their locations with a huge national impact or an international significant reach. Map in reference

Competition	Branded	Students / Pros	Founded	Short description
FIRST	Yes (Lego)	Students	1992	US-based international organization
BEST Robotics	No	Students	1993	American student competition
FIRA	No	Both	1997	Asian organization competing with Robocup
Robocup	No	Both	1997	Organization similar to FIRA but with more expansion
Battlebots	No	Pros	2000	American TV Program
RoboRAVE International	Yes (Lego)	Students	2001	Similar to WRO
ABU Robocon	No	Students	2002	Asian organization similar to FIRST
Robo One	No	Both	2002	Asian humanoid reference event
RoboGames (aka Robolympics)	No	Both	2004	American well known competition
World Robot Olympiad	Yes (Lego)	Students	2004	Similar to Lego and Vex with less branding
VEX	Yes (Vex)	Students	2007	The VEX championships
LNRC	No	Both	2008	Spanish National Robotics League
Robochallenge	No	Both	2008	Romanian competition with EU reach
Pan-African Robotics Competition	No	Students	2016	African student competition

Historically relevant competitions
These competitions had an important impact on the evolution of technology, public awareness or other robotic competitions in the world.

Competition	In / Out	Branded / Open	Students / Pros	Location	Movement	Short description	Year first run	Still active
IEEE Micromouse competition	Indoors	Open	Pros	Itinerant	Wheeled	Mouse labyrinth navigation done in several locations: APEC, Taiwan and Japan	1979	No
All Japan Robot Sumo	Indoors	Open	Both	Fixed	Wheeled	Japanese historic sumo event	1990	Yes
International Aerial Robotics Competition (IARC)	Both	Open	University only	2 Venues	Aerial	Fully autonomous aerial robots; multi-year missions; 2 simultaneous venues (USA and Asia)	1991	Yes
AUVSI Foundation's Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC)	Outdoors	Open	Students	Fixed	Wheeled	Students customize autonomous buggies at Oakland University	1993	Yes
Trinity Fire Fighting Robot Competition	Indoors	Open	Both	Fixed	Wheeled	Fire fighting historical event at Trinity College (Connecticut)	1994	Yes
RoboSub and Roboboat	Outdoors	Open	Both	Fixed	Underwater	AUVs innovation in San Diego	1997	Yes
Eurobot	Indoors	Open	Students	Itinerant	Wheeled	Changing normative student event originated in France	1998	Yes
Centennial Challenges	Outdoors	Open	Pros	Itinerant	Several	NASA's contests for non-government achievements (not strictly a robotics event)	2003	No
European Land-Robot Trial	Outdoors	Open	Pros	Itinerant	Wheeled	Military R&D in Europe ("not organised as a competition but as a trial,")	2006	Yes
UAV Outback Challenge	Outdoors	Open	Both	Fixed	Aerial	UAVs innovation in Australia	2007	Yes
DARPA Grand Challenge	Outdoors	Open	Pros	Fixed	Wheeled	Autonomous street cars in the USA (in 2019 focus changing to "spectrum collaboration")	2014	No
Roborace	Outdoors	Branded	Pros	Itinerant	Wheeled	Autonomous Formula E cars	TBD	?

Local active competitions
Location for these competitions is fixed, usually linked to a venue or institution.

Competition	In / Out	Branded / Open	Students / Pros	Movement	Short description	Last edition
National Engineering Robotics Contest	Indoors	Open	Students	Several	A student competition at NUST	Active
Maritime RobotX Challenge	Outdoors	Open	Students	Water	UAVs innovation competition	Active
Pioneers in Engineering	Indoors	Open	Students	Wheeled	Student competition	Active
Botball	Indoors	Open	Students	Wheeled	Student competition	???
Student Robotics	Indoors	Open	Students	Several	Student competition at the University of Southampton	Active
DEF CON	Indoors	Open	Students	Several	Hacker event with a competition	Active

Other active events
This events do not have a Wikipedia page but are sourced on the Internet and seem to be ongoing as of today.

ITURO
Istanbul Technical University Robot Olympics (abbreviated as ITURO) is a robotics competition that has been hosted by Istanbul Technical University since 2007. The organization is open to undergraduates, graduates and high school students. ITURO is a 3-day organization arranged every spring. Almost 1000 competitors and more than 10000 visitors are hosted every year.

Marine Advanced Technology Education Center Competition
The Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center sponsors an annual international remotely operated vehicle (ROV) competition in partnership with the Marine Technology Society's ROV Committee. First held in 2002, the competition is open to middle school (grades 5-8), high school (grades 9-12), community and technical college, and four-year university students as well as home-schooled students of comparable grade levels. The competition’s class structure of beginner, beginner/intermediate, intermediate, and advanced provides students with the opportunity to build upon their skills, and the application of those skills, as they engineer increasingly more complex ROVs for increasingly more complex mission tasks.

International METU Robotics Days
The International METU Robotics Days event is hosted annually by the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. The Robotics Days include eight categories of competition as well as lectures, seminars and workshops.

RobotArt.org
Competition oriented to challenge teams to produce something visually beautiful with robotics – that is, to have a robot use physical brushes and paint to create an artwork. The competition is open to anyone regardless of age or affiliation and any type of robot can be used. Teams can enter up to 6 paintings in each of the competition categories of “original artwork” and “reinterpreted artwork” where a reference image or existing artwork is used as a reference.

Unsourced or discontinued minor competitions
This events do not seem to be continued anymore or have no reference that we can use to consider them active.

OFF Road Robotics Competition
The competition is organized by the Robot Association of Finland.

The goal is to build a robot which is able to move without human help off-road. The competition is held annually at the mid-summer Jämi Fly In air show in Finland. The competition track is randomly selected 10 minutes before competition by the judge, marked with four wooden sticks to make a 200-meter track. The track consists of sand roads and fields containing bushes and rocks. The robots must run outside the sticks from start to finish without human assistance as fast as possible. YouTube movies and pictures from the 2007 and 2008 competitions are available.

International Autonomous Robot Racing Challenge (IARRC)
Student teams from around the world compete in an outdoor racing competition, where small-scale robots race against other robots to the finish line, without any human guidance or control. Their skills are put to test in a static judging event, a drag race and a circuit race event, where the vehicles navigate around obstacles and obey the traffic rules. These robots are finding their way in applications such as space exploration, mining, search and rescue, remote sensing and automotive inspection.

Robot Racing is an effort to promote research in autonomous mobile robotics technology. The competition provides students with engineering design challenges, including components of mechanical, computer, control software, and system integration. Students work together to design and build robotic vehicles that can navigate twisting, obstacle-filled courses without any human guidance or control.

Mobile Autonomous Systems Laboratory competition (Maslab)
The Mobile Autonomous Systems Laboratory, or Maslab, is a university-level vision-based autonomous robotics competition. The competition is open to students of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and requires multithreaded applications of image processing, robotic movements, and target ball deposition. The robots are run with Ubuntu Linux and run on an independent OrcBoard platform that facilitates sensor-hardware additions and recognition.

Flying Donkey Challenge
The Flying Donkey Challenge is an escalating series of sub-challenges held annually in Africa with a focus on lifting cargo. The initial challenge is scheduled to take place in Kenya in November 2014 with four enabling technology and design sub-challenges and three non-technical challenges.

Micro Air Vehicle Events
A series of micro air vehicle (MAV) events have been sponsored by organizations including the University of Florida, the U.S. Army, French DGA, Indian Ministry of Defense, and others. For example, the International Micro Air Vehicle conferences (IMAVs) always includes competitions in which capabilities are demonstrated and missions are performed. The goal of most competitions is to stimulate research on full autonomy of the micro air vehicles. Prizes range up to an aggregate value of $600,000 in 2008.

UBBOTS competition
UBBOTS is an annual robot exhibition taking place at Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The teams have to create a robot that helps humans and simplify their life.

Duke Annual Robo-Climb Competition (DARC)
Hosted by Duke University, the Duke Annual Robo-Climb Competition (DARC) challenges students to create wall-climbing robots. The competition is discontinued.

SAURO
Sakarya University Robotics Competition (SAURO) is a robotics competition hosted by Sakarya University since 2009. The organization is open to undergraduates, graduates and high school students. The competition is discontinued.

First Robot Olympics
The first Robot Olympics took place in Glasgow Scotland on September 27–28, 1990. The event was run by The Turing Institute at the Sports Centre at the University of Strathclyde. It featured 68 robots competing in a range of sporting events from. The robots were from 12 different countries and involved over 2,500 visitors over the two-day period. The competition is discontinued.

Baelo Claudia, Cádiz, Spain

The ancient Roman city of Baelo Claudia is located in the inlet of Bologna, in the town of Bologna, about 22 km northwest of the city of Tarifa, in the province of Cádiz (Spain). It is located within the current Natural Park of the Strait. The study of its architectural remains shows its Roman origin at the end of the 2nd century BC. C., already observed from that time a great wealth that turns it into an important economic center within the area of the Mediterranean.

History
Baelo Claudia is situated on the northern shore of the Strait of Gibraltar. The town was founded in the end of the 2nd century BC as a result of trade with North Africa (it was a major port for Tangier, in Mauretania Tingitana, for example). It is possible that Baelo Claudia had some functions of governmental administration, but tuna fishing, salting, and the production of garum were the primary sources of wealth. The city was eventually successful enough to be granted the title of municipium by Emperor Claudius.

The life of the inhabitants reached its greatest splendor during the 1st century BC and the 2nd century AD. In the middle of the 2nd century, however, the town declined, probably as a result of a major earthquake which wiped out a large part. In addition to such natural disasters, by the 3rd century, the town was beset by hordes of pirates, both Germanic and Barbary. Although it experienced a slight renaissance later in the century, by the 6th century, the town had been abandoned.

Excavations have revealed the most comprehensive remains of a Roman town in the whole of the Iberian Peninsula, with extremely interesting monuments such as the basilica, theatre, market, and the temple of Isis. The spectacular setting in El Estrecho Natural Park allows the visitor to see the coast of Morocco. A modern Visitor Centre showcases many artefacts and has a comprehensive introduction to the site. It also offers parking, shade, toilets, a shop and good views of the sea. Admission is free to citizens of the European Economic Area on production of an ID card.

Singular Spaces

Temple of Isis
Built in 70 AD
Temple with rectangular floor plan of 29.85 x 17.70 m.

Origin
Sacred space dedicated to the goddess Isis.

Comments
The temple was dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis, as attested by the two inscriptions found on the temple's stairway during the excavations. The name of the goddess appears engraved on the plates on the silhouette of the feet in relief of the one who makes the offering.

The public space of the temple is closed by a portico and in the center is the podium with the hall of divinity. At the front of this room are the elements destined for the cult: the altar, the home, the sacred well and the cistern.
The private space of the temple is separated from that of worship and it contains the rooms for the priests' domestic use, as well as the presentation of the new initiates, where their rituals were performed.

Wall
Built in the time of Augustus and repaired and renovated with the same layout in the second half of the first century AD
About 1200 m. of layout that represents the perimeter of the city.

Origin
It is believed that it did not have a purely defensive purpose, given that it was a time of peace, for what is considered a wall of prestige. Probably intended to define the "pomoerium" of the city, the sacred urban boundary of it.

Comments
In the wall the main accesses to the city are opened. On the northeast side, from the so-called Puerta de Asido, the road that led to this town (now Medina Sidonia) started. Another door opened in the mediation of the east wall, giving access to the Theater Decumanus. A little further down we find the Carteia door in the Decumanus Maximus. On the west side of the wall only the Gades Gate is known, also giving access to the Decumanus Maximus. The south zone of the wall, parallel to the sea, surrounds the salazonero district.

Capitol
Built between 50 and 70 AD
All three are almost identical: A, 20.23 x 8 m.; B, 20.23 x 7, 42 m.; C, 20.23 x 8, 03 m.

Origin
Temples dedicated to the cult of the Capitoline Triad.

Located on the north side of the Forum, on a platform that presents a vertical drop of five meters with respect to the paved square.

Comments
These three temples represent the official religion and also make up the sacred area of Baelo. Its dominant situation is not accidental and symbolizes the submission of administrative and political life to the deity, under whose protection citizen life develops. The temple serves only as a dwelling for the statue of the god or goddess, while the cult is developed mainly outside, especially on the altars existing at the foot of the staircase of the central building. In the official rites a great importance was given to the deified emperors.

Theater
Built in the first century AD, around the year 60 AD, it was abandoned at the end of the second century or early s. III AD

67 m of facade length by 15 m. Tall.

Origin
The theater was used for the performance of theatrical performances. After its abandonment, in late Roman times it was re-used as a necropolis.

Comments
The proliferation of doors and access corridors obeys to the fact that the placement of the spectators in the theater was predetermined. The cavea was divided into three semicircular sectors: the ima cavea - or lower grandstand - was reserved for the ruling classes of the city, with the local magistrates occupying the first seats, next to the orchestra; the middle cavea -or intermediate bleachers- was occupied by merchants and public officials, as well as by free citizens of higher status; the upper part or summa caveait was reserved for the common people, the common people. If we take into account that each sector was separated from its immediate by means of a small wall we understand the reason for the existence of so many doors.

On the sides of the pulpitum, a decorated space located just in front of the stage, there are two monumental fountains whose sculptural part represents two reclining satyrs, who feed water to the fountains from wineskins under their arms.

Behind the stage there was a great richly decorated wall - scaenae frons -, which served as the background for the theatrical performance and at the same time made a sounding board so that the voice of the actors could be amplified and reach the public.

Forum
Although the origin of the Forum of Baelo must be placed in the time of Augustus, the fundamental nucleus of the forensic area that we see today is remodeled between 50 and 70 BC (reigns of Claudius and Nero).
Forensic area: 75 x 50 m.; Forum Square: 37 x 30 m.

Origin
Essential space for public use, center of civic life in all its facets: political, administrative, judicial or religious.

Middle area of the city, central position between the canvases of the east and west walls. It communicates with the Decumanus Maximus on its southern side.

Comments
The forensic area of Baelo Claudia is, perhaps, the one that has come to us in a more complete way and the one that presents the best state of conservation of the entire Peninsula.

In imitation of Rome, the Forum was in all the cities the center of the civic life and the place of encounter and relation. For this reason they were located at the junction of the two main streets of the city or very close to it. In principle, the Forum of Baelo had various functions, among which the commercial one stood out. From the middle of the first century, this role is disappearing in all the cities of the western provinces of the Roman world. The Forum now acquires a more institutional, political and religious sense, moving commercial activity to other areas, which explains the construction of the market or "Macellum" of Baelo Claudia. The atmosphere of the forum in antiquity was more closed than we can see today. It was a space bounded by large buildings on all sides, what propitiated a space with its own entity. The side porches guarded the citizens from the inclemency of the weather.

Market (Macellum)
It was built at the end of the 1st century AD, when the Forum was closed to commercial activity. In the second century AD only the shops that open their doors to the Decumanus Maximus survive. Soon after it was completely abandoned.

Origin
Market of supplies of the city. In the second century the interior shops are used as landfill and in late period homes are built.

Comments
There are many architectural elements available: the pavement, the drains, the supports, the pilasters, the columns, the capitals, etc., which make it possible to deduce with sufficient accuracy their original condition, as well as to venture the possibility of a future architectural restoration. This action would be of great interest, considering the small number of markets that remain intact in the rest of the Roman world. The building had two levels. The stores were small, since most of the merchandise was exhibited outside of them. The building had doors that closed at night, as well as stores. The aedicule (chapel) existing in the center of the building should be dedicated to a divinity linked to commerce, possibly Mercury.

Urban hot springs
Its construction can be dated to the end of the 1st century - beginning of the 2nd century AD thanks to the inscriptions of the bricks used in its construction. The building was in use until the end of the 4th century AD

32.50 x 13.50 m. Partially excavated between 1969 and 1970. The building as a whole is 38 x 37.8 m.
Origin
The baths had a hygienic function, but they were also a space for leisure and social recreation, for relations with other citizens, where they talked, did gymnastics, took baths, etc.

Comments
Users, after accessing the thermal space, smeared with oil and massaged in the " tepidaria " or warm rooms, prior to access to the " caldarium ", where they took a hot bath and repress the suffocating heat with labrum water. At the end of their rest, they crossed the warm rooms again and went to the cold bath room in the " frigidarium ". In this there were two bathtubs, one deeper for the bathroom itself and another in the form of an apse for sprinkling.
These baths of Baelo perfectly conserve the " hypocaustum ""or heating system, which through the permanent combustion in the furnaces allowed to have hot water and steam Many of the bricks of this construction have a seal that marks their manufacture near the neighboring Tingis (present Tangier), which corroborates a Once again, Baelo's intense relations with North Africa.

Recently they have discovered larger thermal baths located outside the city but very close to these. They have been defined as Termas Marítimas, being located in an immediate suburb of the city but open to the sea, possibly to serve the important floating population related to port activities and fishing. Both thermal spaces are practically synchronous and were built in a period in which there was a wide development of this type of facilities in the Roman world, representing Baelo Claudia a clear exponent of it.

Decumanus Maximus
The layout corresponds to the time of Augustus, being remodeled later in line with the rest of the important works carried out in the second half of the first century AD Its abandonment, very uneven, took place throughout the late Roman period, being able to be conditioned for the tsunami that should have ravaged part of the city in the s. III AD

It has 9 m. of variable width and its total length constitutes the maximum width of the city.

Origin
Main street of the city. It opened the main shops of the city, as well as the market (macellum), the shopping plaza and the urban hot springs. This street was the commercial axis of the city.

Separates the middle zone of the city from the southern part defining an east-west axis. The confluence between this road axis and the Cardo Maximo (north-south) defined the forum of the city, the heart of public life. From the axes of the Cardo and Decumanus Maximus the vitrubian urbanism was articulated on the basis of parallel and perpendicular streets.

Comments
The Decumanus Maximus, as the main street of Baelo, communicated two of the main gates of the city and was flanked by porticos. From the Decumanus, important buildings such as the urban hot springs, the market (macellum) and the basilica were accessed, as well as connecting with the Forum. It is common to find in Roman pavements rolled car on the slabs although it is not the case of Decumanus de Baelo, which suggests that it was the main street of commerce and relationship of citizens and not the point where traffic rolled.

This road axis has been excavated around 90% of its length, constituting one of the only decumanos of our country preserved entirely.

Its layout fossilizes the coastal route that linked Gades (Cádiz) and Carteia (San Roque), the main cities that were the backbone of the Cadiz coast during antiquity and that represented two of the most outstanding enclaves of the area of the Strait in Roman times.

East Gate, also called Carte de Carteia.
The door is built around 10 BC, in the reign of Augustus. Its use is maintained until the end of the fourth century AD
Central access: 3.15 m between the towers; rectangular bastions: 6.50 x 4.50 m

Origin
Entrance of the city from the road that arrives from Carteia, giving access to the Decumanus Maximus.

Comments
In the Puerta de Carteia sector, one can clearly observe the evolution of the wall surrounding Baelo Claudia. It was built in the first century AD in two phases: the first, in the time of Emperor Augustus; and the second, under Claudio. The reduced thickness of his canvases confirms that, in full Roman peace, the main objective of the wall was not security against non-existent enemies, but served as a delimitation of the citizen area, which was the sacred space protected by the gods, called "pomoerium" "

The Carteia Gate was excavated in 1919 by Pierre Paris, after which it was abandoned for eighty years. In 2013, its excavation has been completed by the Archaeological Ensemble and thewith collaboration from the University of Cádiz.

Basilica
It is built between 50 and 70 AD, to cease its use in the s. III AD when the building collapsed.

31.50 x 18.50 m.

Origin
Public building primarily intended for the administration of justice. It is also a place of imperial worship, business space and meeting of citizens.

It occupies all the south side of the Forum, which opens on one front, while on the other gives access to a small square that opens to the Decumanus Maximus.

Comments
The Basilica was the most monumental building of the forum, and was essentially intended for judicial activity, although the duoviros, supreme magistrates of Baelo Claudia, would have very limited powers of justice since the major causes would depend on the magistrates of the province.

In addition to the celebration of trials, the basilica probably had multiple uses. Vitrubio speaks of the basilica as a place where commercial transactions take place, under the protection of Roman law, but it also served as a meeting place for the refuge of meteorological agents.

Presiding over the basilica we can identify the colossal statue of Trajan with the magistrate's robes, and the cornucopia of abundance. The presence of this image and the finding of several pedestals of other sculptures, possibly of members of the imperial family, make us think of the practice of the imperial cult within the Basilica.


It was built in the middle of the 1st century, closing the forensic area, possibly on a previous basilica when the forum was remodeled. Its definitive collapse came in the s. III, associated with a great earthquake. The drums of columns were located, in the excavations, glued to each other, which has allowed part of the colonnade to be restored after the excavations.

Cistern and aqueducts
Northern aqueduct and cistern: August time, possibly. Punta Paloma Aqueduct: half of the first century AD Aqueduct of Sierra de Plata: first half of the second century AD

Cistern north: 30 x 6 m. Aqueducts: Punta Paloma, 8 Km.; Sierra de Plata, 1.2 Km.; North, 4 Km.

Origin
Water supply.

Channeling from springs and elements of storage and distribution within the city.

Comments
There was a complete supply of drinking water by means of three aqueducts, highlighting the eastern, which starts from Punta Paloma, eight kilometers away, and from which there are still remains of the arcades that served to save the various streams that crossed in its layout. One of these remains of arcades is still visible very close to the eastern wall of the wall.

From the north aqueduct circular wells are conserved, as well as several stretches with remains of the canal that led to the water storage terminal cistern, in the upper part of the urban area. This had to supply water to the buildings in that area. It was partially excavated in 2000 and 2001.

Necropolis southeast
Incinerations: from the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD; Inhumations: from III AD to IV AD

It occupies a sector of 2 has

Origin
Burial place.

Southeast area of the Archaeological Ensemble, on the road that led to Carteia. Extramural.

Comments
The city of Baelo Claudia has three necropolis. Two of them located at the exit of the east and west gates of the city, marking the road; another, located to the northeast, is between the eastern aqueduct and the current access road to Bologna. The latter is the latest.


 The main characteristic of the necropolis of Baelo is the incorporation of betils, which are cylindrical or frustoconical pieces with or without a base, carved in limestone, or simple quartzite pebbles that try to represent a human torso. These betils are placed outside the funerary monument and face the sea, as it happens within the collective monuments with the place for the deposit of urns. Betilos have a ritual significance perhaps related to the marine deities that can also act as protective geniuses, as a symbol of future life. They may also be related to some Greco-Roman divinity (Saturn or Bacchus) or Punic (Baal).

In Baelo we find elements that associate its necropolises with other similar ones of the North of Africa, like the turriform burials, of Punic or Libyan inspiration, that remained very valid during the Roman era.

Households. Domus of the Solar Quadrant and Domus of the West
Centuries I - III AD

Domus of the Solar Quadrant: 28 x 20 m.; Domus del Oeste: 25 x 20 m.

Origin
Probably, these houses were associated with the business of the salting industry, as the address of the owners of the factories or commercial spaces associated with their management.

South area of Baelo, within the industrial district. Both houses have access from the porticoed street traditionally known as "Cardo de las Columns" and are located facing one another generating a practically symmetrical composition.

Comments
From these houses come the best samples of pictorial art of Baelo Claudia, since almost all the rooms were originally stuccoed and decorated with paintings that reproduced, mainly, geometric or floral motifs. They were excavated between 1917 and 1921, although they have been re-excavated later, as the beach sand had reburied them.

One of these houses, the most oriental or "Solar Quadrant", receives its current name for the discovery of a unique piece that was located inside and that is a sundial made of marble with great technical and artistic quality. In the Roman city museum you can see a copy of this piece, since the original is on display in the National Archaeological Museum (Madrid).

With regard to the other house, the Casa del Oeste, as a curiosity we must point out that, at an indeterminate moment, part of the back rooms was segregated to extend the salazonera factory located at its back, so that it could house the new circular pools or trunks that, since then, have been integrated into the largest factory in the city.

As a singularity, lastly, we can point out that during the 50s a bunker related to the coastal defense of the Strait was built on part of these houses, which was dismantled definitively in the 80s. From this defensive construction there is no more evidence that the head of a machine gun nest that is integrated under the outer footbridge that runs along the perimeter of the Roman city next to the beach.

Salting factories
The construction, use and abandonment of most of the factories excavated in Baelo can be dated at least between the 4th century AD, although it has been witnessed in the area of the beach the presence of older salting factories, which can be traced back to the s. II BC, as is the case of the one found in Punta Camarinal. Most of these industrial complexes were built during the Augustan period or during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, and a process of abandonment was generally observed in the mid or late 20th century. II AD that affected some of these factories. Along the s. IV has been confirmed the recovery of the salazonera activity, lasting clearly until at least the following century.

Between 80 and 200 m2, with a productive capacity that reached 90 m3 in some cases.

Origin
Industrial zone dedicated mainly to the salting of fish and the production of the famous "garum" fish sauce.

They are located in the southern neighborhood of the city, intramuros, in the area closest to the beach.

Comments
The consumption needs of essential foodstuffs of the population of the great cities of the Roman Empire and the difficulty that these reached them in an acceptable state of conservation make the salting industries proliferate on the coast of Cadiz. The natural conditions of the area are exceptional for fishing, as it is a place of passage for the annual migration of tuna between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

The capture of the tuna in almadraba and its subsequent conservation constituted a flourishing industry and was the fundamental cause of the birth and prosperity of Baelo Claudia herself. Once the fish arrived at the factory, the fins, head, intestines and roe, as well as blood, were removed. The fish was cut and lacerated so that the salt penetrated well. Later, it was piled up in large tanks or pools, excavated at ground level, to be salted. Successively layers of fish and salt were spread in equal proportion, leaving it between one and three months on average before ending the salting. The salted fish were placed in sealed amphoras with a disk of clay, then deposited in the warehouses waiting to be moved.

The most appreciated and expensive product that was made in these factories was a sauce known as "garum" or "liquamen". In the Greek comedies the Hispanic "garum" is already mentioned, being a highly valued product in the Mediterranean market. There was a wide range of products behind these generic definitions, as we know that some of these sauces used as a base small fish species such as sardine or anchovy, while others reused the viscera and blood of tuna, as is the case of salsa " haimation"The garum accompanied all kinds of foods, as a dressing or seasoning, acting as seasoning and flavor enhancer, due to its characteristics it is known to have appetite stimulating properties and it has been testified that doctors or doctors used to recommend it. for its alimentary and healing faculties.

The current site
The archaeological site is next to a tourist area, so it is beginning to exploit its potential cultural tourism. The site is easily accessed and visits are free, except for foreigners who must pay a fee to visit it.

The Junta de Andalucía has built a new Visitor Reception Center (of which the architect is Guillermo Vázquez Consuegra) and has carried out a Landscape Action Project in the Ensenada de Bolonia (written and executed by the Andalusian Institute of Historical Heritage between 2010 and 2013). Likewise the University of Cádiz conducts studies of the site, giving rise to new discoveries, as the only copy of the Doryphoros of Polykleitos in Hispania.