Robotic Studio : two new simulation tutorials by Robosoft

Summary:  Robosoft proposes two new tutorials to further develop the capabilities of the Simulation Tutorials provided with the MSRS:  how to integrate your own models of robots, how to integrate a 4 wheel robot and how to use XML files to configure your simulated robot

Robosoft developed two new tutorials based on the Simulation Tutorials provided with the MSRS. We decided to share them with the MSRS community. You can control the new simulated robots using the SampleDashboard, like in the other simulation tutorials provided as samples with the MSRS.

In the first tutorial, you will :

• Learn how to derive the DifferentialDriverEntity class in order to change the settings of the robot,
• Learn how to integrate your 3D model and bind it with the physic model,
• Learn how to define your robot into an simple XML file and how to parse it for the integration in the simulation. No need to recompile your code if you want to change some parameters or make a simulation for a new model of robot.

In the second tutorial you will see how we can simulate a 4 wheel differential drive robot (or a caterpillar based robot). Mode precisely you will see examples of :

• how to extend the VisualEntity class in order to create a FourWheelDriveEntity class,
• how to change the velocity of each of the four wheels of the robot,

These tutorials are available at http://www.robosoft.fr/eng/categorie.php?id=1011

Contact/support about these tutorials : Nicolas Dalmasso (Daedar on the MSRS newsgroups) : dalmasso@polytech.unice.fr

Michel Buffa/Robosoft

Cool!!!

Just one suggestion -- a few installation instructions would be helpful for novices.

1. Extract the files under the SimulationTutorials directory in MSRS.
2. Copy the files in the Robulab80 directory to store\media.

I'm not sure if there are other instructions that might be necessary, but this got Tutorial 4 working for me. It looks like the colors are washed out though and the robot was already driving when the simulation started.

Also, there seems to be an object in the LRF which is not really there.

Anyway, it is good to see that people are contributing to the community. Keep up the good work!

Trevor

You are right, I forgot to mention some little problems that will be solved very soon (with the November release of the MSRS).

The october release of the MSRS intriduced .obj format for 3D objetcs and there are some problems with multi-textured objects. We're in contact with MSRS developers. They promised a fix with the novemeber release.

Apparently, the .obj format have some axis reversed compared to the old .x 3D format used, so we have to switch two axes in the physical model. This will be done in the nexte days. I'll post an update on robosoft site as soon as possible + messages in the newsgroup.

So, until the November release of the MSRS : no texture, and the left/right control will be fixed in the next days. We've been tricked by the October release's change of 3D format.

BTW : there are two tutorials, it's better to get the code directly from the robosoft site than the one posted here. Updates + détailed instructions are online there.

Hi,

I tried Tutorial 5, but there were a couple of problems.

Firstly, when I ran it there was an exception saying that it could not find the type:

Microsoft.Robotics.Services.Simulation.Drive.FourWheelSimulatedDifferentialDrive

There was no Four Wheel Drive service running to connect to with the Dashboard.

When I looked in the code, you had used the namespace:

Microsoft.Robotics.Services.Simulation.Drive.Proxy

I'm not sure why you did this. In any case, I removed the "Proxy" in several places in the code and it compiled and ran OK. I can now connect to the robot and drive it around.

Secondly, there was a reference to table_01.x that generated an error because the file could not be found. I copied it from a previous CTP, but then the error changed to "mesh type is not supported". Doh! Then I remembered that Microsoft dropped support for DirectX meshes in the October CTP. Luckily there is a table_01.obj in the October CTP so I changed the code to use this instead.

So everything seems to be working now.

On a different topic, how did you generate your meshes? They look great (except for the colour as discussed in a prior post).

Trevor

Hi,

as Michel said before, we've got problems with .obj textures that should be resolved with the November release.

For the couple of problems you've noticed, they're solved in the current code. The archive put on the site is an old one (with table_01.x and the bad namespace). A new package wiil be available on Monday (also containing the right/left inversion for tutorial 4 and maybe, I hope, textures).

One new tutorial will be available next week with multiple robots interactions in the same simulation, and with the possibility to add charges to a robot (defined in the XML, this could be a box on a robot or people on a car).

And for the meshes, we've generated them with 3DStudioMax7, but unfortunatly the OBJ exporter generates bad files, so we've got a script to convert the OBJ files so that they can load on the October MRS release.

Nicolas.

Hi guys,

As Trevor said, it's good to see more people contributing in the community - 3D object looks great!  I look forward to the November CTP, and your future work.

Ross.