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Chapter 9 - Adventures in Simulation

Summary

This chapter brings together a range of different simulation examples to demonstrate how the Simulator can be used with high-level orchestration services.

Contents

This chapter contains the following applications:

There is also a page describing how to use the Maze Simulator to set up a Line Following environment, and a sample Maze Generator that can be used to create random mazes of any size.

The Sumo and Soccer simulations require you to first download and install the corresponding packages from the MRDS web site.

The Hexapod demonstrates an interesting application of joints. Hexapod robots have been quite popular in the past, with the famous Genghis at the MIT. A new hexapod, called Herey, will be released by Microbot in 2008 with MRDS services.

There is a Simulated Differential Drive entity included with MRDS V1.5. However, a different version is used by the Maze Simulator that allows the robot to cheat and find out exactly where it is.

The Maze Simulator does not have its own UI. Instead is exposes generic contracts that can be used just like a real robot. You can test it using the Dashboard or TeleOperation.

The Explorer Simulation is based on the original Explorer sample included with MSRS 1.0 but uses the Maze Simulator to provide an environment for a simulated Pioneer robot to explore. It produces a map as it goes.

Legal Stuff

Ben Axelrod wrote the very first Maze Simulator. Since then it has been substantially modified by Trevor Taylor.
The Explorer Simulator is based on code by Microsoft, but has significant enhancements.