Miniature robot BeBot: Mechatronic test platform for self-x properties

Machines are omnipresent. They produce, they transport. Machines facilitate work and assist. The increasing penetration of mechanical engineering by information technology enables considerable benefits. We refer to such systems as advanced mechatronic systems, which relay on the close interaction of mechanics, electric/electronics, control engineering and software engineering. Hence, the design and production of such systems is an interdisciplinary and complex task. Our ambition is a new school for the design of advanced mechatronic systems. Consequently, we need an avant-garde basic system which can be used to develop and to test future applications. The miniature robot BeBot is such a basic system. This robot constitutes the test bench for the applications, being based on modern approaches, such as self-optimization, self-organization and self-coordination as well as on the use of new manufacturing technologies.