Pioneer 2 / PeopleBot Manuel D’Utilisation

ActivMedia Robotics 

much of the ActivMedia Robotics Basic Suite and many other ventures.  The complete, 

licensed Saphira robotics development environment, including C/C++ libraries, GUI 
interface and Simulator, comes bundled with your ActivMedia robot. 

Commercially introduced in August of 1995, Pioneer 1 was the original Pioneer platform.  

It introduced a single-board 68HC11-based robot microcontroller and the Pioneer Server 
Operating System (PSOS) software.  It’s low-cost and high-performance caused an 

explosion in the number of researchers and developers who now have access to a real, 

intelligent mobile robotic platform.   

Intended mostly for indoor use on hard, flat surfaces, the Pioneer 1 has solid rubber tires 
and a two-wheel differential, reversible drive system with a rear caster for balance.  The 

Pioneer 1 came standard with seven sonar range finders (two side-facing and five 

forward-facing) and integrated wheel encoders. 

Software-wise, the Pioneer 1 initially served as a 

platform for SRI International's AI/fuzzy logic-based 

Saphira robotics applications development.  But it 
wasn't  long  before  it's  open  architecture  became 

the popular platform for the development of a 

variety of alternative robotics software 
environments.  

Many developers created software that interfaced 

directly with PSOS.  Others extended the capabilities 
of Saphira (PAI and P-LOGO are two good 

examples), while others have implemented 

alternative robotics-control architectures, such as 
the subsumption-like Ayllu. 

Functionally and programmatically identical to the 

Pioneer 1, the four-wheel drive, skid-steering Pioneer 
AT was introduced in the Summer of 1997 for 

operation in uneven indoor and outdoor 

environments, including loose, rough terrain. 

Except for the drive system, there are virtually no 

operational differences between the Pioneer AT and 
the Pioneer 1:   The integrated sonar arrays and 

microcontrollers are the same. The accessories 

available for the Pioneer 1 also work with the Pioneer 
AT.   Further, applications developed for the Pioneer 

1 work with little or no porting to the Pioneer 2s. 

The next generation of Pioneer Mobile Robots—including the Pioneer 2-DX, -CE, and -AT, 

introduced in Fall 1998 through Summer 1999, improved upon the Pioneer 1 legacy while 
retaining its many important advantages.

  Indeed in most respects, particularly with 

applications software, Pioneer 2 works identically with Pioneer 1 models. 

 

7

                                                           

3

 Price/performance ratio included!  The much more capable and expandable Pioneer 2 was introduced four 

years later for just a few hundred dollars (US) more than the original Pioneer 1.