Professional Microsoft® Robotics Developer Studio

Chapter 9. Adventures in Simulation

The previous chapters in this part have covered what you need to know to make your own simulation scenarios, complete with custom robots, simulation services, and orchestration services. Unfortunately, all this information is a little like being handed a toolbox and a pile of lumber and being told to build a house. It helps to have a few examples to work from. That's what this chapter is all about.

Several examples are presented that demonstrate how to use the simulator in a variety of ways. You'll see how to define a new sumo player service using the Simulated Sumo Competition package. You'll see how to take articulated robotic arms to the next level by building a simulated walking hexapod. You'll also see how to implement a soccer strategy with a team of Corobots in the Simulated Soccer Competition package. Finally, you'll have an opportunity to build a complete simulation environment that can be explored by a simulated robot and built from a floor-plan image.

Simulating a Sumo Competition

In the Spring of 2007, the Microsoft Robotics Team sponsored a Sumo Robotics competition at the Mobile and Embedded Developers Conference (MEDC) in Las Vegas. Figure 9-1 shows one of the final matches of that competition. The instructions to build a sumo robot and the software needed to drive the robot are provided in a package available in a separate download from the MRDS SDK.

Figure 9.1. Figure 9-1

The Sumo package is a great place to get started with writing ...