Microsoft Robotics Blog

CCR used at MySpace in a highly parallel environment

Trevor Taylor — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:30:00 GMT

A video entitled CCR at MySpace has been released on Channel 9. It describes how the Concurrency and Coordination Runtime (CCR) has been used to handle requests for data on the MySpace servers which process tens of thousands of web requests per second. This is a perfect application for CCR which simplifies concurrent programming and provides very high throughput without using a large number of threads. CCR has been in use at MySpace for a long period of time, making it one of the longest running commercial applications of the CCR & DSS Toolkit, which is a spin-off from Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio.

Learn Page available on Microsoft Robotics web site

Trevor Taylor — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:28:00 GMT

The Learn Page on the Microsoft Robotics web site is designed to help you find relevant content from amongst the wide range of resources available for learning about RDS. You can search through the content list in many different ways to find samples, tutorials, documentation, etc. New content items will be added to the list with each new release of RDS and significant contributions from the Community will also be incorporated.

Please visit the Learn Page and provide feedback on your experience or any changes that you would like made to the page by using the e-mail address at the bottom of the page.

CoroWare Announcements

Trevor Taylor — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:20:00 GMT

CoroWare has opened the source of the ClassPack product line. It is now freely available on SourceForge here: http://corobot.sourceforge.net/ . The code includes services for the physical CoroBot, a simulated version of the CoroBot, and an OCU for remote control.

You do not need a physical CoroBot robot to use the code. The simulated CoroBot is a standalone robot for the RDS simulator. It is a mobile 4-wheel skid steering robot, with a 3 degree-of-freedom arm, gripper, infrared distance sensors, and webcam.

The code is licensed under LGPL. Contributions are invited from the RDS Community.

Also, CoroWare recently announced a new robot called the Explorer. This robot is designed for more rugged outdoor environments than the CoroBot with independent 4-wheel suspension and a GPS.

Introductory Videos on RDS

Trevor Taylor — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:11:00 GMT

A series of introductory videos about RDS is being released over the coming weeks. These are intended to be short (about 5 minutes) and cover topics that will help you to get started using RDS. The first video is in three parts and shows how to create a new service in C# using the Visual Studio Wizard. The second one shows how to use VPL. More are coming. Keep watching at: MSRobotics on YouTube.

Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 R2 Released

Trevor Taylor — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:09:00 GMT

Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 R2

Microsoft has announced the availability of the Robotics Developer Studio 2008 R2. This new release is an upgrade to the existing 2008 version. It includes the new DSS Log Analyzer tool and enhancements to the Visual Simulation Environment as well as bug fixes and additions to the documentation. You can view the Introductory Video for more information.

The Express Edition of the software is available at no cost from the Downloads Page, or the Academic Edition from DreamSpark or MSDNAA, or the Standard Edition can be purchased online or downloaded from the MSDN Subscribers Downloads or BizSpark.

Please note that RDS 2008 R2 Standard Edition Upgrade is an upgrade version which must be installed on a computer that already has RDS 2008 Standard Edition previously installed.

New Web Site

The Microsoft Robotics home page, http://www.microsoft.com/robotics, has been completely revised to have a new look and feel and provide updated information. In July, another section will be added to the site called Learn. This new section will catalog all of the available learning resources for RDS. The new Learn section will also allow search and filtered views of the content, so developers can find what they need quicker.

Software Quality Metrics

One of the new features of RDS is Software Quality Metrics (SQM). This is a tool that is used in many Microsoft products to monitor usage patterns and send the data back to Microsoft. The data is then used for planning and the development of new product features. No personal details are sent to Microsoft.

You can elect to participate in the SQM program during installation and we encourage you to do so. If you change your mind at a later date, there is an Update and Feedback Options item in the Start Menu that allows you to opt in or out at any time.

Also as part of this feedback program you can request that RDS tools like VPL, DSSME, etc. check for a new version of RDS whenever they are started. This is also optional, but we suggest that you select it during installation too.

DSS Log Analyzer

The DSS Log Analyzer originally appeared in a Community Technology Preview. It is now available in RDS 2008 R2 (all Editions).

The Log Analyzer shows you graphically the message traffic between services in the Services View. It can be used filter the messages, and zoom in on particular message in the Time Line View to examine its contents. Temporal relationships between messages are clearly shown in the Causality View.

The screeshots below show the overall traffic flow as well as the Time Line and Causality views.

Visual Simulation Environment

A number of new simulated sensors have been added to the simulation environment. These provide services that were commonly requested in the Discussion Forums. They include:

Sonar
Light (Brightness)
Color
Compass
Infrared Range
GPS

In addition, this release contains a completely new set of Simulation Tutorials that illustrate how to use the new simulated sensors and also how to place multiple robots into the simulation environment simultaneously.

A rudimentary robot, without a 3D mesh, is used to show the basic principles of simulation. The robot can be placed into rich scenes such as the Apartment model. The following screenshot shows the robot and another window with readings from some of the new sensors. This tutorial also shows how to do some basic image processing on webcam video data, in this case applying an edge detector.

More Information

For more information you can visit the Robotics Discussion Forums, the MSDN Robotics Home Page and the new Robotics Web Site.

Also follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/msrobotics

RDS 2008 Standard Edition and CCR and DSS Toolkit 2008 available on MSDN

Trevor Taylor — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:02:00 GMT

Due to customer demand, both Robotics Developer Studio (RDS) 2008 Standard Edition and CCR and DSS Toolkit 2008 Standard Edition are now available to all MSDN Professional and MSDN Premium subscribers, which includes BizSpark customers. This enables customers to acquire a simple, per-user license for all the software they need in their development projects, enhancing their investment in MSDN.

Subscribers can download the software from MSDN Subscriber Downloads.

These packages are still available separately for sale to customers who are not MSDN or BizSpark subscribers. The Academic Editions have been available on MSDN for some time. The Express Edition continues to be available for free download.

DreamSpark now available to High Schools

Trevor Taylor — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 01:41:00 GMT

Microsoft announced on Thursday 26th March, as part of its Unlimited Potential commitment, an expansion of the DreamSpark program to include high school students. By offering free access to the latest Microsoft software, Microsoft is empowering students to pursue their academic and professional goals, to become the next generation of IT and business leaders.

As part of DreamSpark, Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 Academic Edition is available for download by students directly from the home page. RDS 2008 is a development environment for writing robotics applications that includes a Simulator and a Visual Programming Language.

Because this is a new offering, High School administrators will need to sign up. However, hundreds of tertiary institutions are already enrolled as Identity Providers in 110 countries worldwide which means that students and teachers can download software using the login details from their own academic institution. Downloading professional software (for academic use only) could not be easier!

For more information, visit http://www.dreamspark.com

Collada Update (Jan 2009) for Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 Standard and Academic Editions

Trevor Taylor — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 04:47:00 GMT

Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio Standard and Academic Editions have the ability to import Collada models that have been exported from SolidWorks. These models can be used in the Visual Simulation Environment and can contain physics entities such as joints. This provides a good way to design robots and other objects for the simulator.

The Collada Update improves compatibility with the Collada format. A new service is also provided in the update that allows you to easily manipulate joints in Collada models when they are run in the simulator via a Windows Forms interface.

The Collada Update is available for download now.

SimplySim releases new LEGO NXT Simulation Environment

Trevor Taylor — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 04:09:00 GMT

SimplySim has released an application that allows you to control either a simulated LEGO^® NXT Tribot in a rich 3D environment or a real Tribot. It includes several sensors and a "claw". Some sample services are provided to demonstrate how to control the Tribot. You can also write your own services to run in this enviroment and control the Tribot.

As a Microsoft RDS partner, SimplySim has been involved in the creation of the simulation environments for the RoboChamps competitions and also developed the environments that ship with RDS 2008.

To download the package, which requires RDS 2008, visit the SimplySim news page.

RoboChamps Korean Competition 2008 (KIA Urban Challenge)

Trevor Taylor — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 02:46:00 GMT

Last month a special event was held in Korea (Oct 8th to Nov 3rd) - It was the RoboChamps Korean KIA Urban Challenge.

Currently KIA is sponsoring the RoboChamps Urban Challenge (Global competition). KIA also sponsored the domestic competition in Korea. For this special domestic competition, Microsoft DPE Korea and Microsoft Innovation Center (MSIC) Korea also co-sponsored.

Please refer to the link below for more details on the Korean event.

http://www.helloapps.net/RoboChamps/RoboChampsKorea.html

CCR and DSS Toolkit 2008 Released

Trevor Taylor — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 19:07:00 GMT

The CCR and DSS Toolkit 2008 has been released and is now available for purchase online. The Concurrency and Coordination Runtime (CCR) provides developers with a high-performance library so they can easily write programs for scenarios that require concurrency and asynchronous operation, including robust error handling, without the complexity of manually controlling threading using locks and semaphores. Decentralized Software Services (DSS) provide a mechanism to distribute applications across multiple computers using a light-weight service-oriented architecture that includes event notifications.

CCR and DSS were originally developed as part of the Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio (RDS) to solve the concurrency problems that are inherent in robotics. Several customers had already used CCR and DSS for other applications just by installing RDS and ignoring the robotics components. They had built some impressive systems that exploited the parallelism that is possible using CCR and DSS. The CCR and DSS components were therefore split out into a separate product to enable them to be used in non-robotic applications.

For more information on the CCR and DSS Toolkit, including Case Studies, and to purchase a license for the Toolkit, visit the CCR and DSS Toolkit home page.

RoboChamps shifts into high gear

Trevor Taylor — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:18:00 GMT

Microsoft recently announced the launch of the RoboChamps Urban Challenge, sponsored by KIA Motors. Similar to the real-world DARPA Urban Challenge, participants will be tasked with programming a robotic car to navigate to a series of checkpoints in an urban environment. RoboChamps Urban Challenge has one major difference – it’s based entirely in simulation. Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 provides a rich physics-enabled simulation environment and allows developers to program robots using .NET languages. The combination of the two removes significant barriers to entry for would be robotics programmers. RoboChamps, built on top of Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008, is a simulated robotics league that provides participants with simulated robots and immersive 3-D environments.

Through their sponsorship, KIA Motors provides the RoboChamps community with two significant benefits. The first is an added level of realism. KIA Motors has provided access to models of five of their popular car models - Soul, Borrego (also known as ‘Mohave’) SUV, refreshed Magentis (‘Optima’) and the all-new Cerato (‘Spectra’). These models have all been turned into simulated robotic cars, each one loaded with a series of simulated sensors. Each car includes two web cameras, a laser range finder, a GPS unit, and a number of bumpers that participants can interact with. Using this sensor data, participants must navigate a simulated, autonomous robot car past a series of KIA dealerships in the virtual city, while obeying traffic lights, avoiding collisions with other autonomous vehicles and of course staying on the road!

In addition, the sponsorship has also provided the largest prizes in the history of RoboChamps. For the top entry, KIA Motors will be providing a real car, a KIA Soul, which has a retail value of US$15,000. They will also be providing a $10,000 cash prize for second place, and a $5000 prize for third place.

Software, challenge kits, training materials, and a video podcast focused on the Urban Challenge can all be found on the website: www.robochamps.com.

RoboChamps Amazed Challenge Winners and Sumo Challenge

Trevor Taylor — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 04:53:00 GMT

The RoboChamps Amazed Challenge is over and the winners have been announced. However, the Challenge continues with the Amazing Second Chance Challenge that closes on the 11th August 2008. Download the revised Amazed Challenge from the Downloads page now.

The second challenge in the series, the Sumo Challenge, is now open and the environment can also be downloaded from the Downloads page.

July CTP of Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008

Henrik Frystyk Nielsen — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:49:00 GMT

The July Community Technical Preview (CTP) of Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 is now available for download. This is the 2nd CTP and like the first this one has a lot of new features and improvements. In addition to the list below you can see some of the features in the Welcome Letter and a complete list in the Whats New? document.

1. New samples and tutorials: This CTP has many new samples and tutorials including:

1. DSS Node Discovery using UPnP: A new UPnP sample illustrates how to use UPnP for discovering DSS nodes across a UPnP network.

2. Transport Extensibility: PipeTransport and PipeTransportHost are two new tutorials on how to write your own transport and load it in your custom host. In addition you will also find the UdpTransport and UdpTransport as additional transport samples.

3. LINQ: Service Tutorial 12 shows how to subscribe to the Directory Service using a LINQ Filter and how to receive filtered notifications.

4. Silverlight: The XBox Controller Viewer sample shows support for use of interactive Silverlight-based UI

5. Embedded Simulation Environment: The sample EmbeddedSim sample shows how to embed the Visual Simulation Environment in a custom Windows Forms user interface.

6. Simulated Pursuit Camera: The PursuitCamera sample shows how to implement a camera entity that follows behind a target and avoids obstacles.

7. Simulated 4x4-drive: The SimulatedFourByFourDrive sample shows how to implement an entity that behaves like a 4x4 off-road car.

2. Global Assembly Cache: Core CCR and DSS assemblies are put into the Global Assembly Cache. means that they are a shared resource for all installations on a single machine.

3. Simulation on 64-bit machines: Simulation now runs on 64-bit systems using the Microsoft Windows-32-on-Windows-64 (WOW64) subsystem. To use simulation on 64-bit machines, make sure you use dsshost32.exe which forces the WOW64 mode.

4. Visual Studio Project Wizards: The Visual Studio Project Wizards have been rewritten to make it much simpler to create new service projects directly from Visual Studio 2005 and 2008. Project wizards are provided for VB.Net and C# targeting .NET Framework.

5. Much Faster DSS Proxy Generation: The DssProxy tool has been completely rewritten to simplify the generation of service proxy assemblies and to make it much faster to compile services. In addition, the tool chain for writing services for .NET Compact Framework has been simplified to no longer need a companion service project targeting the desktop version of .NET Framework. This makes development for .NET Compact Framework much easier.

6. DSS Log Analyzer: The DSS Log Analyzer is a preview of a powerful new debugging and monitoring tool that can visualize and analyze message exchanges between services sent within a DSS node or across nodes. In addition to showing the actual messages that have been sent it also provides message correlations, time lines, and illustrates how multiple message interactions are causally linked over time.

7. Embedded Visual Simulation Environment: In addition to having a stand-alone UI, the Visual Simulation Environment can now be embedded in other applications. This enables other applications to show the Visual Simulation Environment as part of their application.

Please help us making this release better by trying it out and send your comments, suggestions, and bug reports to our MSDN forums.

Henrik

The MSRS Nao Simulation Competition for Robocup 2008 is now available

Kylej — Sat, 10 May 2008 00:49:00 GMT

The Robocup 2008 Nao Simulation package is now available from Aldebaran Robotics. This package is designed to work with the updated Soccer Competition package provided by Microsoft to provide a simulated soccer field with two teams of four Nao robots each for RoboCup 2008.

The Robocup 2008 Simulated Nao competition software is designed to work with version 1.5 of Microsoft Robotics Studio which can be downloaded from here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=73092FF6-E37B-45C6-8E5E-C23D5D632B1E&displaylang=en

You will also need the Soccer Package for MSRS 1.5 that was updated in April. It can be downloaded from here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=AFA19EE3-F959-4EBC-A25F-4A2F32FB8FB2&displaylang=en

Finally, you will need to download and install the Aldebaran Simulated Nao package for MSRS 1.5 from here:

http://www.aldebaran-robotics.com/simulatedNaoRegistration.php

Official matches will be conducted at RoboCup but, whether or not you participate in Robocup this year, you are welcome to download the software and conduct your own matches.

Have fun!

-Kyle