Local exchange and interaction is essential to competitions in robotics. However, hosting such competitions also involves a great deal of organisational work. In addition to the long journeys to the venue, any necessary hardware must either be provided or brought along. The CRISP project's targeted delivery platform reduces the costs and hurdles for participating in a robotics competition, since it relies on simulated robots that can be virtually interacted with from a distance. The feeling of presence is conveyed by the virtual reality used.
The goal of the project is to develop an interactive and immersive competitive environment for performing tasks in the field of human-robot interaction. The environment is based on a physics simulation so that the interactions with the robot that are carried out virtually are modelled on reality. Through a multi-user integration, it should be possible to experience the competitions in real time and with a sense of immersion.
The platform uses ROS2 for robotics applications, MuJoCo for underlying physics simulation and a VR client for user interaction. A central high-performance computer from the competition operator ensures smooth operation and connectivity for multiple users.