Modeling and analysis of automated robotics cells in manufacturing is important to reducing system development time and increasing operational efficiency.  In the past, engineers relied on trial-and-error programming of the actual robots to achieve desired production results.  Certainly, this is an inefficient approach that wastes valuable production time.  Powerful software has emerged recently, however, that allows engineers to model and program a three-dimensional animated simulation of the robot system, allowing them to test a variety of designs and robot control programs, all without using the real robot and wasting its production time.  In an educational setting, where future engineers are taught how to design and prototype such robotics systems, the cost of this software typically is too expensive to provide the licenses necessary for all students.  Hence, this project aims to develop a web-based platform that students use to learn the basics of robotics systems.  Implemeted in Java and Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML), this platform provides a three-dimensional animated simulation model of a robotic cell.  Students log into the server using only a web browser, and they can program the model, experiment with it, and use to achieve and view desired robotic behavior.

While this project primarily addresses educational needs of robotics prototyping, programming and control, it also involves several important research issues:

• specification of inverse kinematics, and
• integration of the basic model with advanced controllers to test performance of control algorithms.