The interaction of an autonomous mobile robot with the real world critically depends on the robots morphology and on its environment. Building a model of these aspects is extremely complex, making simulation insufficient for accurate validation of control algorithms.

If simulation environments are often very efficient, the tools for experimenting with real robots are often inadequate. The traditional programming languages and tools seldom provide enought support for real-time experiments, thus hindering the understanding of the control algorithms and making the experimentation complex and time-consuming.

A miniature robot is presented: it has a cylindrical shape measuring 55 mm in diameter and 30 mm in height. Due to its small size, experiments can be performed quickly and cost-effectively in a small working area. Small peripherals can be designed and connected to the basic module and can take advantage of a versatile communication scheme. A serial-link is provided to run control algorithms on a workstation during debugging, thereby giving the user the opportunity of employing all available graphical tools. Once debugged, the algorithm can be downloaded to the robot and run on its own processor.

Experimentation with groups of robots is hardly possible with commercially available hardware. The size and the price of the described robot open the way to cost-effective investigations into collective behaviour. This aspect of research drives the design of the robot described in this paper. Experiments with some twenty units are planned for the near future.