A.S. Vivacqua, C. Gutwin, and M.R.S. Borges (Eds.): CRIWG 2011, LNCS 6969, pp. 207–214, 2011. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011 Design and Implementation of a 3D Collaborative Telerobotic Simulator Claudinei Dias, Marcelo da Silva Hounsell, Maurício Aronne Pillon, and Carla Diacui Medeiros Berkenbrock Computer Science Department - DCC Santa Catarina State University - UDESC Campus Universitário Prof. Avelino Marcante s/n - Bairro Bom Retiro - Joinville, Brazil dyneidias@hotmail.com, {marcelo,mpillon,diacui}@joinville.udesc.br Abstract. Three-dimensional robotic simulations represent a way to protect the physical integrity of both the robot and its operator. Among their applications, teleoperation enable to command robot manipulations of hazardous 3D objects (such as radioactive or explosive ones) on a remote site. To some telerobotic applications there is the need for two or more operators due to task complexity or due to the object being handled. A collaborative robotic simulator would provide a multi-user environment to perform tasks that are split to generate interdependence between operators. This paper presents a simulated 3D telerobotic system where two 5 degrees-of-freedom robots perform collaborative tasks. The system, called CollBot4us (Collaborative roBot for Us), proposes a task and continuously evaluate the scenario to determine when operators have reached a specified goal and, at the same time, it captures metrics that can be used to assess the collaboration process. While using CollBot4us operators see a single scene from their own perspective but the operations they command come from geographically distinct locations. CollBot4us can be used for teaching robotics through collaboration or teaching collaboration strategies through robotics. Keywords: Collaboration, Telerobotics, 3D Simulator. 1 Introduction Robots are the highlight of many processes automation thanks to their high degree of accuracy and capability to perform tasks that are repetitive and harmful to humans. Remote robots provide a work environment in which the controller is geographically distant from the task. These tasks could be operations on a radioactive power plant leak, manipulation of a potentially explosive content under suspicion of terrorism or any other scenario that requires intervention but is hazardous to humans. Telerobotic experiments can be performed in two ways: applying commands directly on a real robot, or; applying commands to a simulated robot. The use of simulators reduces risks of damaging the robot or injuring personnel at the same time that it reduces costs such as robot maintenance, material and energy.