Showing papers in "International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems in 2006"
TL;DR: The goal of YARP is to minimize the effort devoted to infrastructure-level software development by facilitating code reuse, modularity and so maximize research-level development and collaboration by encapsulating lessons from the experience in building humanoid robots.
Abstract: We describe YARP, Yet Another Robot Platform, an open-source project that encapsulates lessons from our experience in building humanoid robots. The goal of YARP is to minimize the effort devoted to infrastructure-level software development by facilitating code reuse, modularity and so maximize research-level development and collaboration. Humanoid robotics is a "bleeding edge" field of research, with constant flux in sensors, actuators, and processors. Code reuse and maintenance is therefore a significant challenge. We describe the main problems we faced and the solutions we adopted. In short, the main features of YARP include support for inter-process communication, image processing as well as a class hierarchy to ease code reuse across different hardware platforms. YARP is currently used and tested on Windows, Linux and QNX6 which are common operating systems used in robotics.
640 citations
TL;DR: By using a generic communication framework, MARIE aims to create a flexible distributed component system that allows robotics developers to share software programs and algorithms, and design prototypes rapidly based on their own integration needs.
Abstract: This paper presents MARIE, a middleware framework oriented towards developing and integrating new and existing software for robotic systems. By using a generic communication framework, MARIE aims to create a flexible distributed component system that allows robotics developers to share software programs and algorithms, and design prototypes rapidly based on their own integration needs. The use of MARIE is illustrated with the design of a socially interactive autonomous mobile robot platform capable of map building, localization, navigation, tasks scheduling, sound source localization, tracking and separation, speech recognition and generation, visual tracking, message reading and graphical interaction using a touch screen interface.
133 citations
TL;DR: This paper issues an approach to sociable robots using self-maintained energy in cooperative mobile robots, which is dominantly inspired from swarm behavior of collecting and sharing food of honey-bee and ant and practical deployment of mobile robots that are capable of carrying and exchanging fuel to other robots.
Abstract: Research of autonomous mobile robots has mostly emphasized interaction and coordination that are natually inspired from biological behavior of birds, insects, and fish: flocking, foraging, collecting, and sharing. However, most research has been only focused on autonomous behaviors in order to perform robots like animals, whereas it is lacked of determinant to those behaviours: energy. Approaching to clusted amimal and the higher, collective and sharing food among individuals are major activity to keep society being. This paper issues an approach to sociable robots using self-maintained energy in cooperative mobile robots, which is dominantly inspired from swarm behavior of collecting and sharing food of honey-bee and ant. Autonomous mobile robots are usually equipped with a finite energy, thus they can operate in a finite time. To overcome the finitude, we describe practical deployment of mobile robots that are capable of carrying and exchanging fuel to other robots. Mechanism implementation including modular hardware and control architecture to demonstrate the capabicities of the approach is presented. Subsequently, the battery exchange algorithm basically based on probabilistic modeling of total energy on each robot located in its local vicinity is described. The paper is concluded with challenging works of chain of mobile robots, rescue, repair, and relation of heterogeneous robots.
116 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present some of the challenges in developing reusable robotic software, and describe how they addressed some of these challenges in the development of the CLARAty robotics software, which was adapted to a number of heterogeneous robots with different mechanisms and hardware control architectures.
Abstract: We present in detail some of the challenges in developing reusable robotic software. We base that on our experience in developing the CLARAty robotics software, which is a generic object-oriented framework used for the integration of new algorithms in the areas of motion control, vision, manipulation, locomotion, navigation, localization, planning and execution. CLARAty was adapted to a number of heterogeneous robots with different mechanisms and hardware control architectures. In this paper, we also describe how we addressed some of these challenges in the development of the CLARAty software.
114 citations
TL;DR: A novel mobile robot for urban search and rescue based on reconfiguration to achieve highly adaptive locomotion capabilities, the robot's serial and parallel mechanisms form an active joint, enabling it to change its shape in three dimensions.
Abstract: This paper presents a novel mobile robot for urban search and rescue based on reconfiguration. The system consists of three identical modules; actually each module is an entire robotic system that can perform distributed activities. To achieve highly adaptive locomotion capabilities, the robot's serial and parallel mechanisms form an active joint, enabling it to change its shape in three dimensions. A docking mechanism enables adjacent modules to connect or disconnect flexibly and automatically. This mechanical structure and the control system are introduced in detail, followed by a description of the locomotion capabilities. In the end, the successful on-site tests confirm the principles described above and the robot's ability.
63 citations
TL;DR: This paper describes the ongoing development of a robotic control architecture that was inspired by computational cognitive architectures from the discipline of cognitive psychology that combines symbolic and subsymbolic representations of knowledge into a unified control structure.
Abstract: This paper describes the ongoing development of a robotic control architecture that was inspired by computational cognitive architectures from the discipline of cognitive psychology. The robotic control architecture combines symbolic and subsymbolic representations of knowledge into a unified control structure. The architecture is organized as a goal driven, serially executing, production system at the highest symbolic level; and a multiple algorithm, parallel executing, simple collection of algorithms at the lowest subsymbolic level. The goal is to create a system that will progress through the same cognitive developmental milestones as do human infants. Common robotics problems of localization, object recognition, and object permanence are addressed within the specified framework.
51 citations
TL;DR: It is argued that the addition of controlled extension provides dual and complementary functionality, and correspondingly enhanced performance, in continuum robots.
Abstract: In this paper, we analyze the capabilities of a novel class of continuous-backbone ("continuum") robots. These robots are inspired by biological "trunks, and tentacles". However, the capabilities of established continuum robot designs, which feature controlled bending but not extension, fall short of those of their biological counterparts. In this paper, we argue that the addition of controlled extension provides dual and complementary functionality, and correspondingly enhanced performance, in continuum robots. We present an interval-based analysis to show how the inclusion of controllable extension significantly enhances the workspace and capabilities of continuum robots.
47 citations
TL;DR: Simulations have shown that the hovercraft manages to navigate in a corridor at a “preset” groundspeed without requiring a supervisor to make it switch abruptly between the control-laws corresponding to behaviours such as automatic wall-following, automatic centring, and automatically reacting to an opening encountered on a wall.
Abstract: In our ongoing project on the autonomous guidance of Micro-Air Vehicles (MAVs) in confined indoor and outdoor environments, we have developed a bio-inspired optic flow based autopilot enabling a hovercraft to travel safely, and avoid the walls of a corridor. The hovercraft is an air vehicle endowed with natural roll and pitch stabilization characteristics, in which planar flight control can be developed conveniently. It travels at a constant ground height (∼2mm) and senses the environment by means of two lateral eyes that measure the right and left optic flows (OFs). The visuomotor feedback loop, which is called LORA(1) (Lateral Optic flow Regulation Autopilot, Mark 1), consists of a lateral OF regulator that adjusts the hovercraft's yaw velocity and keeps the lateral OF constant on one wall equal to an OF set-point. Simulations have shown that the hovercraft manages to navigate in a corridor at a “preset” groundspeed (1m/s) without requiring a supervisor to make it switch abruptly between the control-law...
42 citations
TL;DR: Results show that the interplay between neurobiological modelling and robotic experiments can promote the understanding of the neural structures and the achievement of robust robot navigation algorithms.
Abstract: In this paper, a model of visual place cells (PCs) based on precise neurobiological data is presented. The robustness of the model in real indoor and outdoor environments is tested. Results show that the interplay between neurobiological modelling and robotic experiments can promote the understanding of the neural structures and the achievement of robust robot navigation algorithms. Short Term Memory (STM), soft competition and sparse coding are important for both landmark identification and computation of PC activities. The extension of the paradigm to outdoor environments has confirmed the robustness of the vision-based model and pointed to improvements in order to further foster its performance.
42 citations
TL;DR: This paper describes on-going development of a multi robot control framework named CoRoBa, theoretically founded by reifying Real Time Design Patterns, which uses CORBA as its communication Middleware and consequently benefits from the interoperability of this standard.
Abstract: This paper describes on-going development of a multi robot control framework named CoRoBa. CoRoBa is theoretically founded by reifying Real Time Design Patterns. It uses CORBA as its communication Middleware and consequently benefits from the interoperability of this standard. A multi-robot 3D simulator written in Java3D integrates seamlessly with this framework. Several demonstration applications have been developed to validate the design and implementation options.
34 citations
TL;DR: A trajectory planning method of space manipulator that can track, approach and catch the USS in free-floating situation and utilize interval algorithm to handle these difficulties is presented.
Abstract: On-orbit rescuing uncontrolled spinning satellite (USS) using space robot is a great challenge for future space service. This paper mainly present a trajectory planning method of space manipulator that can track, approach and catch the USS in free-floating situation. According to the motion characteristics of USS, we plan a spiral ascending trajectory for space manipulator to approach towards USS in Cartesian space. However, it is difficult to map this trajectory into the joint space and realize feasible motion in joint space because of dynamics singularities and dynamics couple of space robot system. Therefore, we utilize interval algorithm to handle these difficulties. The simulation study verifies that the spiral ascending trajectory can been realized. Moreover, the motion of manipulator is smooth and stable, the disturbance to the base is so limited that the attitude control can compensate it.
TL;DR: A small set of communication patterns are introduced as basis for all intercomponent interactions and are seen as the key towards a stringent interface semantics.
Abstract: Vital functions of mobile robots are provided by software and software dominance is still growing. Mastering the software complexity is not only a demanding but also indispensable task towards an operational robot. Nevertheless, well-known and even always needed algorithms are often implemented from scratch over and over again instead of being reused as off-the-shelf components. A major reason is the lack of a framework that allows to compose robotics software out of standardized components without already prescribing a robotics architecture. Whereas Component Based Software Engineering (CBSE) is an approach to make a shift from implementation to composition, the general CBSE approach does not give any hints on how to ensure that independently provided components finally fit together as reusable components. This paper introduces a small set of communication patterns as basis for all intercomponent interactions. Since all externally visible interfaces of components are composed out of the same set of communication patterns, these are the key towards a stringent interface semantics. Generic communication patterns enforce decoupling of components and ensure composability by restricting the diversity of interfaces. The SmartSoft framework as one implementation of this approach already
TL;DR: A new three translational degrees of freedom (DOF) compliant parallel micromanipulator (CPM) is proposed, which has an excellent accuracy of parallel mechanisms with flexure hinges and the PSO is the best method for the optimization.
Abstract: In this paper, a new three translational degrees of freedom (DOF) compliant parallel micromanipulator (CPM) is proposed, which has an excellent accuracy of parallel mechanisms with flexure hinges. The system is established by a proper selection of hardware and analyzed via the derived pseudo-rigid-body model. In view of the physical constraints imposed by both the piezoelectric actuators and flexure hinges, the CPM's reachable workspace is determined analytically, where a maximum cylinder defined as an usable workspace can be inscribed. Moreover, the optimal design of the CPM with the consideration of the usable workspace size and global dexterity index simultaneously is carried out by utilizing the approaches of direct search method, genetic algorithm (GA), and particle swarm optimization (PSO), respectively. The simulation results show that the PSO is the best method for the optimization, and the results are valuable in the design of a new micromanipulator.
TL;DR: The lessons learned while designing, testing and validating techniques that implement the functionalities of the navigation system, building the architecture of integration, and using the system on several robots equipped with different sensors in different laboratories are discussed.
Abstract: This paper presents our work of integration during the last years within the context of sensor-based robot navigation systems. In our motion system, as in many others, there are functionalities involved such as modeling, planning or motion control, which have to be integrated within an architecture. This paper addresses this problematic. Furthermore, we also discuss the lessons learned while: (i) designing, testing and validating techniques that implement the functionalities of the navigation system, (ii) building the architecture of integration, and (iii) using the system on several robots equipped with different sensors in different laboratories.
TL;DR: This paper describes two methodologies for increasing the actuation speed of the shape memory alloy (SMA) actuator in ambient environment, and proposes a high current pulse actuation that actuates the alloy fastly using pulses in the milliseconds order.
Abstract: This paper describes two methodologies for increasing the actuation speed of the shape memory alloy (SMA) actuator in ambient environment. The first method involves the implementation of a simple, light-weight heat sink, which consists only of a combination of an outer metal tube with the silicone grease, but able to cool the heated alloy effectively. The second method describes a high current pulse actuation that actuates the alloy fastly using pulses in the milliseconds order. We hypothesize that a fast actuation of the SMA results in small increase in temperature, due to energy transformation from heat energy to the kinetic energy in the SMA. This new heating method revolutionizes the actuation of the alloy for a significantly faster response.
TL;DR: The theoretical analysis of the adhering characteristics of the sliding suction cup (SSCs) using fluid network theory can give some valuable design criteria on the structure parameters of SSCs and control strategies of suction force of S SCs.
Abstract: The adhering capability, one of the most important performance indexes of wall-climbing robots(WCRs), should be taken into account when a WCR is designed. This paper proposes a novel approach for investigating the adhering characteristics of the sliding suction cup (SSCs) using fluid network theory to enhance the adhering capability of WCRs. The fluid models of the SSCs of two WCRs are developed and equivalent circuits in three cases are presented. The dynamic responses of negative pressure in SSCs are obtained and validated by a set of experiments. It indicated that the theoretical analysis is reasonable and can give some valuable design criteria on the structure parameters of SSCs and control strategies of suction force of SSCs.
TL;DR: An online self-tuning precompensation for a Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller is proposed to control heading direction of a flying robot and has a superior performance than the conventional PID controller.
Abstract: In this paper, an online self-tuning precompensation for a Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller is proposed to control heading direction of a flying robot. The flying robot is a highly nonlinear plant, it is a modified X-Cell 60 radio-controlled helicopter. Heading direction is controlled to evaluate efficiency of the proposed precompensation algorithm. The heading control is based on the conventional PID control combined with an online self-tuning precompensation so that both the desired transient and steady state responses can be achieved. The precompensation is applied to compensate unsatisfied performances of the conventional PID controller by adjusting reference command. The precompensator is based on Takagi-Sugeno's type fuzzy model, which learns to tune itself online. The main contribution of the proposed controller is to enhance the controlled performance of the conventional PID controller by adding a self-tuning precompensator on the existing conventional PID controller. The results show that the conventional PID controller with an online self-tuning precompensation has a superior performance than the conventional PID controller. In addition, the online self- tuning precompensation algorithm is implemented simply by adding the precompensator to the existing conventional PID controller and letting the self-tuning mechanism tune itself online.
TL;DR: It is contended that stability must be based on a careful domain analysis and on a multidimensional modelling of different and recurring aspects of robot systems.
Abstract: The paper investigates the concept of software "stability" applied to robot systems. We define "stable" a family of systems modelled, designed and implemented so that specific applications of the family may be developed re-using, adapting and specializing knowledge, architecture and existing components. During the last few years, many ideas and technologies of software engineering (e.g. modularity, OO development and design patterns) were introduced in the development of robotic systems to improve the "stability" property. All these ideas and technologies are important. Nevertheless, they model robotic systems along a unique direction: the functional decomposition of parts. Unfortunately, there are concerns of robotic systems that relate to the systems as a whole hence crosscutting their modular structure. The Aspect Oriented Software Development is a recently emerged approach for modelling, designing and encapsulating the above-mentioned crosscutting concerns (aspects). We contend that stability must be based on a careful domain analysis and on a multidimensional modelling of different and recurring aspects of robot systems.
TL;DR: This article describes a software development toolkit for programming mobile robots, that has been used on different platforms and for different robotic applications, and addresses design choices, implementation issues and results in the realization of that environment.
Abstract: This article describes a software development toolkit for programming mobile robots, that has been used on different platforms and for different robotic applications We address design choices, implementation issues and results in the realization of our robot programming environment, that has been devised and built from many people since 1998 We believe that the proposed framework is extremely useful not only for experienced robotic Research on developing autonomous agents, and in particular mobile robots, has been carried out within the field of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics from many different perspectives and for several different kinds of applications, and the development of robotic applications is receiving increasing attention in many laboratories Moreover, robotic competitions (eg AAAI contexts, RoboCup, etc) have encouraged researchers to develop effective robotic systems with a predefined goal (eg playing soccer, searching victims in a disaster scenario, etc) Moreover, mobile robots are also used for teaching purposes within computer science laboratories and often students are required to work and develop robotic applications on them 1 This increasing population of robots in the research laboratories and the consequent need for developing robotic applications have started a process of design and implementation of robotic software, that aims at having a design methodology and a software engineering approach in the development of such applications Furthermore, companies producing and selling mobile robots make available to their users development libraries and software tools for building and debugging robotic applications (eg, Saphira/ARIA for Pioneer robots (Konolige et al, 1997), OPEN-R SDK for Sony AIBO2, etc) These tools are obviously platform dependent and thus they cannot easily be used for building multi-platform robotic systems Moreover, they usually lack some features that are required from a general purpose robot development toolkit For instance, the OPEN-R SDK completely lacks facilities for remote
TL;DR: In order to solve the problems of high speed movement for the Y cylinder and precise position control of the X cylinder, the applied pneumatic schemes of X and Y cylinders are employed to drive the high-speed on-off solenoid valves and an ordinary valve to adjust the air-flow and pressure to the cylinders.
Abstract: A new kind of pneumatic climbing robot is presented to meet the requirements of glass-wall cleaning for high-rise buildings, which is totally actuated by pneumatic cylinders and attached to the gla...
TL;DR: A robot control architecture is presented that implements both the task frame formalism and skill primitives providing a framework to easily implement new control features, and is based on the communication middleware MIRPA-X.
Abstract: The task frame formalism allows the programmer to overcome the drawbacks of the traditional robot oriented assembly programming, moving the programmer's focus on the robot task. Additionally skill ...
TL;DR: A gain scheduling approach is proposed for the hybrid force/velocity control of an industrial manipulator employed for the contour tracking of objects of unknown shape that allows to cope with the configuration dependent dynamics of the manipulator during a constrained motion.
Abstract: In this paper a gain scheduling approach is proposed for the hybrid force/velocity control of an industrial manipulator employed for the contour tracking of objects of unknown shape. The methodology allows to cope with the configuration dependent dynamics of the manipulator during a constrained motion and therefore a significant improvement of the performance results. Experimental results obtained with an industrial SCARA manipulator demonstrate the effectiveness of the technique.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a principled quantitative method for performing mission reliability estimation for mobile robot teams, and apply this method to an example robot mission, examining the cost-reliability tradeoffs among different team configurations.
Abstract: Many of the most promising applications for mobile robots require very high reliability. The current generation of mobile robots is, for the most part, highly unreliable. The few mobile robots that currently demonstrate high reliability achieve this reliability at a high financial cost. In order for mobile robots to be more widely used, it will be necessary to find ways to provide high mission reliability at lower cost. Comparing alternative design paradigms in a principled way requires methods for comparing the reliability of different robot and robot team configurations. In this paper, we present the first principled quantitative method for performing mission reliability estimation for mobile robot teams. We also apply this method to an example robot mission, examining the cost-reliability tradeoffs among different team configurations. Using conservative estimates of the cost-reliability relationship, our results show that it is possible to significantly reduce the cost of a robotic mission by using cheaper, lower-reliability components and providing spares.
TL;DR: The design and implementation of a low-cost air muscle actuated humanoid hand developed at Curtin University of Technology that allows for proportional control to be achieved with simple and inexpensive components is presented.
Abstract: The control of humanoid robot hands has historically been expensive due to the cost of precision actuators. This paper presents the design and implementation of a low-cost air muscle actuated humanoid hand developed at Curtin University of Technology. This hand offers 10 individually controllable degrees of freedom ranging from the elbow to the fingers, with overall control handled through a computer GUI. The hand is actuated through 20 McKibben-style air muscles, each supplied by a pneumatic pressure-balancing valve that allows for proportional control to be achieved with simple and inexpensive components. The hand was successfully able to perform a number of human-equivalent tasks, such as grasping and relocating objects.
TL;DR: An efficient path planning algorithm, for multi degrees of freedom manipulator robots in dynamic environments, based on a local planner and a boundary following method for rapid solution finding, which is fast, which makes it suitable for on-line path planning in dynamic environment.
Abstract: An efficient path planning algorithm, for multi degrees of freedom manipulator robots in dynamic environments, is presented in this paper. The proposed method is based on a local planner and a boundary following method for rapid solution finding. The local planner is replaced by the boundary following method whenever the robot gets stuck in a local minimum. This method was limited to 2-DoF mobile robots and in this work we showed how it can be applicable for a robot with n degrees of freedom in a dynamic environment. The path planning task is performed in the configuration space and we used a hyperplane in the n dimensional space to find the way out of the deadlock situation when it occurs. This method is, therefore, able to find a path, when it exists, no matter how cluttered is the environment, and it avoids deadlocking inherent to the use of the local method. Moreover, this method is fast, which makes it suitable for on-line path planning in dynamic environment. The algorithm has been implemented into a robotic CAD system for testing. Some examples are presented to demonstrate the ability of this algorithm to find a path no matter how complex is the environment. These examples involve a 5-DoF robot in a cluttered environment, then two 5-DoF robots, and finally three 5-DoF robots. In all cases, the proposed method was able to find a path to reach the goal and to avoid the dynamic
TL;DR: How long experience with tele-operated UGVs influenced DRDC's shift in focus from tele- operated to autonomous unmanned vehicles (UV), the forces that guided DRDC’s development approach andDRDC's experience adapting a specific tool set, MIRO, to a UGV implementation are related.
Abstract: Over the past 20 years, Defence Research and Development Canada has developed numerous tele- operated unmanned ground vehicles (UGV), many founded on the ANCAEUS command and control system. This paper relates how long experience with tele-operated UGVs influenced DRDC's shift in focus from tele-operated to autonomous unmanned vehicles (UV), the forces that guided DRDC's development approach and DRDC's experience adapting a specific tool set, MIRO, to a UGV implementation.
TL;DR: The mechanism model paradigm provides a framework to modeling mechanisms for robotic control that combines mathematical models of kinematics/dynamics, geometric information and control system parameters for a variety of robotic systems, with algorithms that are needed for typical robot control applications.
Abstract: This article gives an overview of the Mechanism Model paradigm. The mechanism model paradigm provides a framework to modeling mechanisms for robotic control. The emphasis is on the unification of mathematical models of kinematics/dynamics, geometric information and control system parameters for a variety of robotic systems (including serial manipulators, wheeled and legged locomotors), with algorithms that are needed for typical robot control applications.
TL;DR: This paper proposes to use associative memories (self-organizing maps) to encode the non explicit model of the robot-world interaction sampled by the lazy memory, and then generate a robot behavior by means of situations to be achieved, i.e., points on the self-organized maps.
Abstract: Today, there are several drawbacks that impede the necessary and much needed use of robot learning techniques in real applications. First, the time needed to achieve the synthesis of any behavior is prohibitive. Second, the robot behavior during the learning phase is - by definition - bad, it may even be dangerous. Third, except within the lazy learning approach, a new behavior implies a new learning phase. We propose in this paper to use associative memories (self-organizing maps) to encode the non explicit model of the robot-world interaction sampled by the lazy memory, and then generate a robot behavior by means of situations to be achieved, i.e., points on the self-organizing maps. Any behavior can instantaneously be synthesized by the definition of a goal situation. Its performance will be minimal (not necessarily bad) and will improve by the mere repetition of the
TL;DR: The novel method of mobile robot simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) is implemented by using the Rao-Blackwellised particle filter (RBPF) for monocular vision-based autonomous robot in unknown indoor environment and is of high precision and stability.
Abstract: This paper presents the novel method of mobile robot simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), which is implemented by using the Rao-Blackwellised particle filter (RBPF) for monocular vision-based autonomous robot in unknown indoor environment. The particle filter is combined with unscented Kalman filter (UKF) to extending the path posterior by sampling new poses that integrate the current observation. The landmark position estimation and update is implemented through the unscented transform (UT). Furthermore, the number of resampling steps is determined adaptively, which seriously reduces the particle depletion problem. Monocular CCD camera mounted on the robot tracks the 3D natural point landmarks, which are structured with matching image feature pairs extracted through Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT). The matching for multi-dimension SIFT features which are highly distinctive due to a special descriptor is implemented with a KD-Tree in the time cost of O(log2N). Experiments on the robot Pi...
TL;DR: The main aim is to find the best method which is very robust and fast and requires less computational power and memory compared to similar approaches and is accurate enough for high level decision making which is vital for robot soccer.
Abstract: In this work, several localization algorithms that are designed and implemented for Cerberus'05 Robot Soccer Team are analyzed and compared. These algorithms are used for global localization of autonomous mobile agents in the robotic soccer domain, to overcome the uncertainty in the sensors, environment and the motion model. The algorithms are Reverse Monte Carlo Localization (R-MCL), Simple Localization (S-Loc) and Sensor Resetting Localization (SRL). R-MCL is a hybrid method based on both Markov Localization (ML) and Monte Carlo Localization (MCL) where the ML module finds the region where the robot should be and MCL predicts the geometrical location with high precision by selecting samples in this region. S-Loc is another localization method where just one sample per percept is drawn, for global localization. Within this method another novel method My Environment (ME) is designed to hold the history and overcome the lack of information due to the drastically decrease in the number of samples in S-Loc. ME together with S-Loc is used in the Technical Challenges in Robocup 2005 and play an important role in ranking the First Place in the Challenges. In this work, these methods together with SRL, which is a widely used successful localization algorithm, are tested with both offline and real-time tests. First they are tested on a challenging data set that is used by many researches and compared in terms of error rate against different levels of noise, and sparsity. Besides time required recovering from kidnapping and speed of the methods are tested and compared. Then their performances are tested with real-time tests with scenarios like the ones in the Technical Challenges in ROBOCUP. The main aim is to find the best method which is very robust and fast and requires less computational power and memory compared to similar approaches and is accurate enough for high level decision making which is vital for robot soccer.