1 / 13

MSRS - Critique on its Usability via a Path Planning Algorithm Implementation

MSRS - Critique on its Usability via a Path Planning Algorithm Implementation. George Markou & Ioannis Refanidis University of Macedonia Greece. Microsoft Robotics (1/2). Microsoft Robotics Studio (MSRS) 1.0 Originally available in late 2006 MSRS 1.5 Refresh Available in late 2007

alice-spence
Download Presentation

MSRS - Critique on its Usability via a Path Planning Algorithm Implementation

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. MSRS - Critique on its Usability via a Path Planning Algorithm Implementation George Markou & IoannisRefanidis University of Macedonia Greece

  2. Microsoft Robotics (1/2) • Microsoft Robotics Studio (MSRS) 1.0 • Originally available in late 2006 • MSRS 1.5 Refresh • Available in late 2007 • Version we used to implement our experiments • Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio (MRDS) 2008 • Current version (Since April 2008) AIAI 2009

  3. Microsoft Robotics (2/2) Features include: • Microsoft Visual Simulation Environment (VSE) • 3D physics-based virtual environments • User can create / import 3-dimensional meshes into MSRS’ simulation environment • Support for multiple programming languages • C#, C++, VB.NET, Iron Python • Visual Programming Language (VPL) • Built-in support for multiple robots • LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT, iRobot Create, MobileRobots Pioneer P3DX, etc. • Concurrency and Coordination Runtime (CCR) • “manages asynchronous operations, exploits parallel hardware and deals with concurrency and partial failure” AIAI 2009

  4. Related Work What others say:  • Lots of technological solutions to common robotic field problems : e.g. VPL & concurrency control &efficient distributed message passing. (Jackson J, 2007) • Usefulness in academic environment: • Link between language syntax already known to students and unfamiliar robotics semantics • Satisfied with the available features of the program and its support (Workman K & Elzer S, 2009)) • Will force other platforms to develop their competitive products so as to offer similar capabilities (Tick J, 2006)  • Evident limitations: e.g. integration with low level processors (Jackson J, 2007) • Usefulness in high school environment: • Main disadvantage: Visual programming language used requires detailed knowledge of an imperative programming language (Tsai W T et al., 2007) Our critique? AIAI 2009

  5. Robotics Platforms Comparison AIAI 2009

  6. Maze Domain (1/2) • Simulated Maze • Originally created using MSRS 1.5 Refresh • Migrated to MRDS 2008 • Creating very realistic environment: not suited for novices • Professional examples: see SimplySim (www.simplysim.net) AIAI 2009

  7. Maze Domain (1/2) • Our environment • Simpler • Based on the “MazeSimulator” project (Trevor Taylor - http://www.promrds.com/Downloads.htm) • Gridworld of size 7×7 • Nodes can randomly alternate their status between blocked & unblocked (abstraction of the Robocup Rescue Simulator Competition - http://www.robocuprescue.org) AIAI 2009

  8. Maze Domain (2/2) • Robot • Pioneer 3DX with mounted Sick Laser Range Finder (LRF) LM200 • Movement of the robot: • Moves in a straight line for a distance equal to the length of a node. • Decides, based on the planning algorithm, if a turn is necessary • Executes the turn (in angles which are multiple of 90°) • Using LRF, the robot builds a tri-color map of the environment • White color: Free space • Black color : Laser hit an obstacle • Grey color: Non explored part of the maze AIAI 2009

  9. Implementation • Implemented the backwards version of the Lifelong Planning algorithm (LPA*) (Koenig et al., 2004) • Combination of heuristic (A*) & incremental algorithm (DynamicSWSF-FP) • Able to repeatedly find a shortest path between two given vertexes in a dynamic environment • Dynamic Environment: Blocking / unblocking a maximum of two nodes. • Use of C# AIAI 2009

  10. Critique (1/2) Why not VPL? • Preference towards languages related to our previous knowledge (in our case C#) • Diagrams tend to become exceedingly large as program’s complexity increases • Limited support for arbitrary user-defined data types • Built-in support: • Control flow: “if statements” • Collection of items: lists • Recursion and arrays are not natively supported Why VPL? • Graphical “drag-and-drop” programming • Best suited for novice users • Creation of a program by “orchestrating activities” == connecting activity blocks • Most useful as a tool, especially if one is not familiar with MSRS’ environment • Easily create the skeleton of a basic program by wiring activities to each other & automatically generating C# code through it AIAI 2009

  11. Critique (2/2) • CCR: • Handles the required messaging and orchestration efficiently • Instead of writing complex code to coordinate sensors & motors functioning simultaneously • Simulation environment • Served our functional needs • Aesthetically appealing • MSRS 1.5 Refresh: Extensive features & capabilities • Potentially establish it as the field’s standard • Major advantage: Vast economical & commercial support a company like Microsoft can provide for it  Several minor or major difficulties • Major: Unexpected termination depending on the machine it was executed on • Most attributed to small life cycle of the product  migration to MRDS resolved them • Such problems could discourage researchers/educators from relying on it AIAI 2009

  12. Future Work • Different environment • Induce changes to it more than once • Coordinate MSRS’s services to communicate automatically every time a change occurs • More efficient, semi-quantitative evaluation • Develop structured questionnaire • Ask two groups of students to fill them out • Each of them will implement a similar robotics project in MSRS & another robotic platform AIAI 2009

  13. Thank you! • Comments? Questions? • Contact us at: gmarkou/ yrefanid@uom.gr AIAI 2009

More Related