Abstract
Soccer was the original motivation for Robocup. Besides being a very popular sport worldwide, soccer brings up a set of challenges for researchers while attracting people to the event, promoting robotics among students, researchers and general public. RoboCup chose to use soccer game as a central topic of research, aiming at innovations to be applied for socially significant problems and industries. This paper describes the implementation of a system similar to the used by the teams participating in the Robocup small size league (SLL). The system, developed in Object Pascal, allows real time localization and control of an omnidirectional mobile robot. The objective of this paper is to be an introductory tutorial for Robocup soccer games, focusing in the base topics real time localization and control. © IEEE.

Abstract
This paper presents a nonlinear model based predictive controller (NMPC) for trajectory tracking of a mobile robot. Methods of numerical optimization to perform real time nonlinear minimization of the cost function are used. The cost function penalizes the robot position error, the robot orientation angle error and the control effort. Experimental results of the trajectories following and the performance of the methods of optimization are presented.

Abstract
In this work a forest fire detection solution using small autonomous aerial vehicles is proposed. The FALCOS unmanned aerial vehicle developed for remote-monitoring purposes is described. This is a small size UAV with onboard vision processing and autonomous flight capabilities. A set of custom developed navigation sensors was developed for the vehicle. Fire detection is performed through the use of low cost digital cameras and near-infrared sensors. Test results for navigation and ignition detection in real scenario are presented.

Abstract
The objective of this paper is to present the evolution and the state-of-the-art in the area of legged locomotion systems. In a first phase different possibilities for implementing mobile robots are discussed, namely the case of artificial legged locomotion systems, while emphasizing their advantages and limitations. In a second phase a historical overview of the evolution of these systems is presented, bearing in mind several particular cases often considered as milestones of technological and scientific progress. After this historical timeline, some of the present-day systems are examined and their performance is analyzed. In a third phase the major areas of research and development that are presently being followed in the construction of legged robots are pointed out. Finally, some still unsolved problems that remain defying robotics research, are also addressed.

Abstract
This paper studies the adoption of periodic gaits of quadruped animals by multilegged artificial locomotion systems. The purpose is to determine the gait to adopt at different velocities, under distinct robot and locomotion conditions, based on two performance measures. A set of experiments reveals the influence of the gait and the body and ground parameters upon the proposed indices. It is verified that the gait should be adapted to the robot forward velocity and to the conditions under which the robot is moving. The experiments also reveal that a gait that decreases the energy consumption generally implies an increase in the trajectory following errors.

Abstract