The lab was informally started sometime during the middle of 1998 by Joe Rubrico as a division of the Instrumentation Robotics and Controls Laboratory of the UP EEE Department. Its main purpose was to focus research on topics directly related to mobile robotic systems. While part of the IRC Lab, the Mobot Lab spawned two major projects, both being required undergraduate projects (EE198s). These projects were done by two of the earliest Student Affiliates (SAs) of the lab, Rafael Sevilla and Emilson Enrique. In the last quarter of 1999, Joe and Dr. Luis Sison (who then headed the IRC Lab) decided that it would be more advantageous for both the Mobot and IRC labs if they became separate laboratories. This was a welcome event since the Mobot Lab would now enjoy a full lab budget (which is not much really! ) and more autonomy in its research thrusts (which is really much).
By the time, the Mobot Lab was formalized, the number of SAs had already risen from three to nine. All of these SAs had to share a generous 4m x 4m of laboratory space! This was still the original amount space occupied by the mobot lab since no other rooms were available. There was no airconditioning and no direct entrance to the lab. One had to pass through the adjacent POWER ELECTRONICS LAB PEL to gain access to the lab. Fortunately, after some paint jobs, carpentry, and a lot of patience and lobbying at the chairman's office, these needs were at length satisfied - except for the larger floor area of course.
In the period between 1998 and 2000, the lab projects were concentrated on implementing mobile robots at the grassroots level: basic sensor and driver electronics, mechanics, operating systems and programming. The lab's first functional mobile robot, a simple analog-brained critter named TUTEBOT, was implemented by Nathan Alviso in early '99. An attempt at legged-locomotion was done as an undergraduate thesis by Emilson Enrique while a multi-tasking operating system for the 68HC11 was coded by Rafael Sevilla both also in early '99. By mid '99, SEVEN , the lab's first microcontroller-based robot intended as a rapidly-reprogrammable test agent, was constructed by Joe Rubrico. Further projects in the lab were spawned by the First Microcontroller Design Competition (MDC) Mobile Robot race, held in February 2000. The lab's small race robots were named after insects and were either Z86- or Z80-based line-following machines. Of them, HANTIK, constructed by Lounell Gueta and Emman Jacinto, finished the race with the fastest time among the Mobot Lab entries.
At the time of writing this (summer 2000), while new projects are being made and planned, the lab still resides in its original location. Joe heads the lab and is still the only faculty member directly associated with it. This will hopefully change as soon as the EEE Department relocates to its new building sometime in the early months of 2001. There and thence, the lab will continue on its way of learning, creating, and having fun in mobile robotics. Hopefully, it will result in a much longer history than this.
Note: The Mobot Lab's existence owes much from a simple maze-traversing mobile robot named BUBWIT. It was the undergraduate thesis of Celi Cruz and Joe Rubrico.
- by Mary Anne Legaspi
to be continued...
