Abslmcf-This paper describes our efforts and plans to develop a Virtual Laboratory for the education in Rohotics and Automation. These efforts are characterized by the need of blending R&A subjects into a traditional Computer Science curriculum, thus forcing a specific selection of development topics. In this context, the Robotics Laboratory must provide basic as well as advanced experiments, to address the needs of students at different education levels. In this paper, we present the development of three main applications, to support Control Systems and Robotics classes, as well as thesis and dissertation research. Of particular interest is the effort in the area of teleoperation, preliminary to the opening, next year, of a new curriculum on Medical Informatics, in which Computer Assisted Surgery will play an important role.

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This paper describes the state of the art of hopping robots for space exploration and new conceptual advances in algorithms for localization and sensing of hopping robots. We first review the state of the art of hopping robot systems and describe their characteristics with reference to past and current space missions. Then, we briefly summarize the operational principles of minimally actuated jumping robots that are suitable for exploring the unstructured terrain of celestial bodies. These principles are supported by the description of some of the key mechanisms implemented, and by laboratory tests. Then, a new localization algorithm for hopping localization that fuses camera, inertial and acceleration data to compute the most likely landing location of the robot is proposed. To support localization with geo-referenced measures, we also briefly propose a new stereo system, based on omnidirectional cameras, whose physical characteristics are well suited for a hopping robot. Computer simulations of the localization algorithm, together with preliminary geometrical analysis of the proposed stereo system, support our claims of their applicability to planetary exploration. Conclusions and plans for future development end the paper.

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