* With Webots, complex environments for mobile robot simulations can be created,
 using advanced hardware accelerated OpenGL technologies, including lighting,
 smooth shading, texture mapping. Environments as large as needed can be created
 and optimized for fast simulations.

* The simulation system is accurate and uses virtual time mechanism, making it
 possible to run simulations much faster than it would take on a real robot.
 Depending on the complexity of the setup and the power of the workstation,
 simulations can run up to 300 times faster than the real robot when the fast
 simulation mode is used.

* The graphical user interface (GUI) of Webots provides excellent interaction with
 the simulation while it is running. The position, orientation and zoom of viewpoints
 and objects can be changed with just a click of the mouse.

 Some of the applications that have been developed by various researchers with the

help of Webots are summarized below [Cyb03a]:

* At Autonomous Systems Lab, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFI),
 Laussane [Zuf02], research on the evolution of cooperation and labor division in
 artificial ants is being done.

* Ijspeert et. al. [IjsO1] have worked on stick pulling using a group of khypera robots.

* Alice robots have been used to play soccer by Caprari [CapO1].

* Zhang and Martinoli [Zha02] have used Swarm intelligence to improve individual
 and collective traffic safety.

 The following are the various steps for simulation in Webots:

1. Design the environment and robot in the Scene Tree Window (STW) provided by
 Webots. STW is composed of a list of nodes, each containing fields. Fields can
 contain values or nodes.

2. Develop a controller program in C using any of the available C compilers.
 Although GNU GCC compiler is suggested, any other compiler can be used.
 Microsoft Visual C++ was used as the compiler here.

3. Link the controller with the environment in Webots. Run and debug the controller.

5.2.2 Environment and Robot Design

 The environment and the robots designed in STW are shown in figure 5.3.