The Robotics Primer Workbook Developed by  USC, iRobot® and Microsoft® Robotics Studio

Categories: Hardware | Software | Microsoft Robotics Studio | BAM

Introduction::iRobot Create/Roomba and Microsoft Robotics Studio

Contents 1 Hardware 2 Software 2.1 Microsoft Robotics Studio 2.1.1 Controlling using BAM 2.2 Simulator 2.2.1 Simulator Installation 2.2.2 Running the Simulator 3 Exercise

Hardware

The robot you will be using for each exercise consists of a Create mobile base, a BAM bluetooth device, and a computer with Windows XP and a BlueTooth device. All of these separate components fit together to make a complete programmable robot. The laptop computer will serve as the brains of the robot, wirelessly sending commands over a BlueTooth connection to the Create. The BAM device will allow you to control this robot over the BlueTooth connection.

Roomba Create BAM Module

Instead of a wireless connection over bluetooth, another potential solution, not currently supported is to use the eBox-2300 embedded computer. This computer runs Windows CE and is able to run the Microsoft Robotics Studio.

Software

Microsoft Robotics Studio

Download and install the latest version of the Robotics Studio from the Microsoft Robotics website. The downloads page is here.

When installing, a screen will pop up asking about dependencies that need to be installed, install them so that the simulator can be used.

We will be assuming, for the purposes of this guide, that the Robotics Studio is installed at:

C:\Microsoft Robotics Studio 1.5 (CTP May 2007)\

Controlling using BAM

To being, start dsshost from the command line as follows:

dsshost /p:50000

Then open up Internet Explorer and type in http://localhost:50000 as the destination URL. The following screen should pop up:

On the left pane, click on the link for Control Panel. A list of services should appear. Scroll down to the one that says Roomba Generic Drive and select as the manifest:

samples\Config\iRobot.Roomba.DriveDashboard.manifest.xml

and click the Create Button

Simulator

Included with the Microsoft Robotics Studio is a 3-D simulator with simulated physics. If you do not have an actual iRobot Roomba or iRobot Create robot, you can simulate one using the simulator included with the Robotics Studio. The default robot used in this simulator is the Pioneer 3Dx Robot with a laser range finder mounted on top. This could be used for most of the exercises supported by the Microsoft Robotics Studio. However, if you wish to use a Roomba in the simulator, then the following project file will do that.

Simulator Installation

Unzip this project and copy it to the directory:

C:\Microsoft Robotics Studio (1.0)\samples\SimulationTutorials

Running the Simulator

To start the simulator, begin by starting dsshost from the command line as follows:

dsshost /p:50000

Then open up Internet Explorer and type in http://localhost:50000 as the destination URL. The following screen should pop up:

On the left pane, click on the link for Control Panel. A list of services should appear. Scroll down to the one that says RoombaSimulation and select as the manifest:

samples\SimulationTutorials\iRobot Roomba model\RoombaSimulation.manifest.xml

and click the Create Button

A simulator window similar to this should appear:

Exercise

The exercise format will be significantly different from the Create/Command Module and Gumstix configurations. This is for several reasons:

• The Microsoft Robotics Studio uses the .NET framework, and therefore needs to use languages such as C#, Python, J#, and the Visual Programming Language (VPL). The Create/Command Module and the Gumstix configurations are programmed using C/C++.
• The model used in the Microsoft Robotics Studio is a service-based model rather than a client/server-based model used in Player, or the application model used for the Command Module. This changes the nature of the program that is written.
• The Microsoft Robotics Studio is developed in Windows XP, not Linux.