  We present a synchronous robotic testbed called SyROF that allows fast
implementation of robotic swarms. Our main goal is to lower the entry barriers
to cooperative-robot systems for undergraduate and graduate students. The
testbed provides a high-level programming environment that allows the
implementation of Timed Input/Output Automata (TIOA). SyROF offers the
following unique characteristics: 1) a transparent mechanism to synchronize
robot maneuvers, 2) a membership service with a failure detector, and 3) a
transparent service to provide common knowledge in every round. These
characteristics are fundamental to simplifying the implementation of robotic
swarms. The software is organized in five layers: The lower layer consists of a
real-time publish-subscribe system that allows efficient communication between
tasks. The next layer is an implementation of a Kalman filter to estimate the
position, orientation, and speed of the robot. The third layer consists of a
synchronizer that synchronously executes the robot maneuvers, provides common
knowledge to all the active participants, and handles failures. The fifth layer
consists of the programming environment.
