Free Training: Learn how to program Robots (Virtually) with Microsoft Robotics Studio & Visual Studio .NET
Robotics has always been an interest of mine, but I wasn't quite sure how to "get started." Well, the Microsoft Robotics team has made available (for FREE) a Training Course for Introduction to Microsoft Robotics Studio version 1.5. If you are a .NET Developer and want to learn how to program Robots in your spare time, then you are going to like this offering.
Here's an Overview of of the Courseware:
The robotics introductory courseware is a set of labs that can be completed individually or as part of an introductory course on robotics. The labs take you through common robotics concepts such as reading sensors, controlling actuators, designing simple behaviors, and having a robot interacting with its environment using Microsoft Robotics Studio.
Going through the labs you will learn how to write services for Microsoft Robotics Studio using a combination of Microsoft Visual Programming Language (VPL) and C#. While the labs are introductory, they do require basic knowledge of Microsoft .Net and C# to complete.
Many of the labs can be completed either using Microsoft Robotics Studio Simulation or actual hardware in the form of an iRobot Create. In Lab Tutorial 7 (C#) - Multirobot Coordination you will need two iRobot Creates or use Microsoft Robotics Studio Simulation to simulate the robots. In addition, some of the labs such as Lab Tutorial 5 - Using Vision to Estimate the Distance to an Object use additional sensors including cameras, microphones, and speakers that need to be plugged into your PC.
Here's the download link: Click here
~ Robert Shelton
