Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio

Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio
Developer(s)	Microsoft in association with the community
Initial release	December 18, 2006;17 years ago
Stable release	4.0 / March 8, 2012;12 years ago
Operating system	Tested on Windows 8 Consumer Preview but not supported until final release of Windows 8; Windows XP SP2, Vista, Windows 7, Windows Embedded 7, Server 2003 up to 2008 R3; CE 5.0, CE 6.0 up to Windows Server 2008 R2 ;
Type	Robotics suite
License	Various
Website	www.microsoft.com/robotics/

Last updated March 21, 2024

Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio (Microsoft RDS, MRDS) is a discontinued Windows-based environment for robot control and simulation that was aimed at academic, hobbyist, and commercial developers and handled a wide variety of robot hardware. It requires a Microsoft Windows 7 operating system or later.

RDS is based on Concurrency and Coordination Runtime (CCR): a .NET Framework-based concurrent library implementation for managing asynchronous parallel tasks. This technique involves using message-passing and a lightweight services-oriented runtime, Decentralized Software Services (DSS), which allows orchestrating multiple services to achieve complex behaviors.

Features include: a visual programming tool, Microsoft Visual Programming Language (VPL) to create and debug robot applications, web-based and windows-based interfaces, 3D simulation (including hardware acceleration), easy access to a robot's sensors and actuators. The primary programming language is C#.

Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio includes support for packages to add other services to the suite. Those currently available include Soccer Simulation and Sumo Competition by Microsoft, and a community-developed Maze Simulator, a program to create worlds with walls that can be explored by a virtual robot, and a set of services for OpenCV.

Components

RDS has four main components:

Concurrency and Coordination Runtime (CCR)
Decentralized Software Services (DSS)
Visual Programming Language (VPL)
Visual Simulation Environment (VSE)

CCR and DSS are also available separately for use in commercial applications that require a high level of concurrency and/or must be distributed across multiple nodes in a network. This package is called the CCR and DSS Toolkit.

Tools

The tools that allow developing an MRDS application contain a graphical environment (Microsoft Visual Programming Language (VPL)) command line tools allow working with Visual Studio projects (VS Express version is enough) in C#, and 3D simulation tools.

Visual Programming Language is a graphical development environment that uses a service and activity catalog.
- They can interact graphically, a service or an activity is represented by a block that has inputs and outputs that need only be dragged from the catalog to a diagram.
- Linking can be done with the mouse, it allows defining if signals are simultaneous or not, allows performing operations on transmitted values.
- VPL also allows generating the code of new "macro" services from diagrams created by users.
- In VPL, it is possible to easily customize services for different hardware elements.
RDS 3D simulation environment allows simulating the behavior of robots in a virtual world using NVIDIA PhysX technology (3D engine originally written by Ageia) that includes advanced physics.

There are several simulation environments in RDS. These environments were developed by SimplySim
- Apartment
- Factory
- Modern House
- Outdoor
- Urban
Many examples and tutorials are available for the different tools, which permits a fast understanding of MRDS. Several applications have been added to the suite, such as Maze Simulator, or Soccer Simulation which is developed by Microsoft.
The Kinect sensor can be used on a robot in the RDS environment. RDS also includes a simulated Kinect sensor. The Kinect Services for RDS are licensed for both commercial and non-commercial use. They depend on the Kinect for Windows SDK.

Notable applications

Princeton University's DARPA Urban Grand Challenge autonomous car entry was programmed with MRDS.^[1]
MySpace uses MRDS's parallel computing foundation libraries, CCR and DSS, for a non-robotic application in the back end of their site.^[2]
Indiana University uses MRDS in a non-robotic application to coordinate a high-performance computing network.^[2]
In 2008 Microsoft launched a simulated robotics competition named RoboChamps using MRDS, four challenges were available: maze, sumo, urban, and Mars rover. the simulated environment and robots used by the competition were created by SimplySim and the competition was sponsored by Kia Motors
The 2009 robotics and algorithm section of the Imagine Cup software competition uses MRDS visual simulation environment. The challenges of this competition were also developed by SimplySim and are improved versions of the RoboChamps challenges.

Critique

The complication and overhead required to run MRDS prompted Princeton Autonomous Vehicle Engineering to convert their Prospect 12 system from MRDS to IPC++.^[3]
The main RDS4 website was last updated on 2012-06-29. (In fact, the product no longer exists).

Microsoft Robotics and the future

Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio has not been updated or patched since version 4.0, which was released on March 8, 2012. On September 22, 2014, as part of Microsoft's restructuring plan, the Robotics division of Microsoft Research was suspended, according to a tweet from Ashley Feniello, a principal developer at Microsoft Robotics division of Microsoft Research (MSR). It is now highly unlikely that MRDS will ever be updated again, however forum members (MVPs) may still offer limited support.^[4]

Related Research Articles

An integrated development environment (IDE) is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities for software development. An IDE normally consists of at least a source-code editor, build automation tools, and a debugger. Some IDEs, such as IntelliJ IDEA, Eclipse and Lazarus contain the necessary compiler, interpreter or both; others, such as SharpDevelop and NetBeans, do not.

In computing, a visual programming language, also known as diagrammatic programming, graphical programming or block coding, is a programming language that lets users create programs by manipulating program elements graphically rather than by specifying them textually. A VPL allows programming with visual expressions, spatial arrangements of text and graphic symbols, used either as elements of syntax or secondary notation. For example, many VPLs are based on the idea of "boxes and arrows", where boxes or other screen objects are treated as entities, connected by arrows, lines or arcs which represent relations.

Microsoft XNA is a freeware set of tools with a managed runtime environment that Microsoft Gaming developed to facilitate video game development. XNA is based on .NET Framework, with versions that run on Windows and Xbox 360. XNA Game Studio can help develop XNA games. The XNA toolset was announced on March 24, 2004, at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose, California. A first Community Technology Preview of XNA Build was released on March 14, 2006.

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is a free and open-source graphical subsystem originally developed by Microsoft for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0 in 2006. WPF uses DirectX and attempts to provide a consistent programming model for building applications. It separates the user interface from business logic, and resembles similar XML-oriented object models, such as those implemented in XUL and SVG.

A robotics suite is a visual environment for robot control and simulation. They are typically an end-to-end platform for robotics development and include tools for visual programming and creating and debugging robot applications. Developers can often interact with robots through web-based or visual interfaces.

Microsoft Visual Programming Language, or VPL, is a visual programming and dataflow programming language developed by Microsoft for the Microsoft Robotics Studio. VPL is based on the event-driven and data-driven approach. The programming language is distinguished from other Microsoft programming languages such as Visual Basic and C#, as it is the only Microsoft language that is a true visual programming language. Microsoft has utilized the term "Visual" in its previous programming products to reflect that a large degree of development in these languages can be performed by "dragging and dropping" in a traditional wysiwyg fashion.

Concurrency and Coordination Runtime (CCR) is an asynchronous programming library based on .NET Framework from Microsoft distributed with Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio (MRDS). Even though it comes with MRDS, it is not limited to modelling robotic behavior but can be used to express asynchronous behavior in any application.

Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO) is a set of development tools available in the form of a Visual Studio add-in and a runtime that allows Microsoft Office 2003 and later versions of Office applications to host the .NET Framework Common Language Runtime (CLR) to expose their functionality via .NET.

Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) developed by Microsoft. It is used to develop computer programs including websites, web apps, web services and mobile apps. Visual Studio uses Microsoft software development platforms including Windows API, Windows Forms, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Store and Microsoft Silverlight. It can produce both native code and managed code.

Visual Studio Tools for Applications (VSTA) is a set of tools that independent software vendors (ISVs) can use to build customization abilities into their applications for both automation and extensibility. Those customization abilities can be used by end-users to tailor the ISV's application within a managed extensibility environment just like Visual Basic for Applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robotics simulator</span> Simulator to create applications for physical robots

A robotics simulator is a simulator used to create an application for a physical robot without depending on the physical machine, thus saving cost and time. In some case, such applications can be transferred onto a physical robot without modification.

Tandy Trower is the current CEO of Hoaloha Robotics LLC, a robotics company based in Seattle, Washington, developing an autonomously mobile, socially interactive robot, to empower senior citizens to live more independently.

FlexSim is a discrete-event simulation software package developed by FlexSim Software Products, Inc. The FlexSim product family currently includes the general purpose FlexSim product and healthcare systems modeling environment.

Fork Particle is a computer graphics visual effects modeling and software development kit (SDK) developed and sold by Fork Particle, Inc. Fork Particle uses its real time particle system technology to simulate visual effects or particle effects such as CGI explosions, fire, rain, smoke, dust, etc. Fork Particle is used in video games and visual simulation software such as a flight simulator. It has been licensed to game developers for Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

Universal Windows Platform (UWP) is a computing platform created by Microsoft and introduced in Windows 10. The purpose of this platform is to help develop universal apps that run on Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile (discontinued), Windows 11, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and HoloLens without the need to be rewritten for each. It supports Windows app development using C++, C#, VB.NET, and XAML. The API is implemented in C++, and supported in C++, VB.NET, C#, F# and JavaScript. Designed as an extension to the Windows Runtime (WinRT) platform introduced in Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8, UWP allows developers to create apps that will potentially run on multiple types of devices.

ASU VIPLE is a Visual IoT/Robotics Programming Language Environment developed at Arizona State University.

References

↑ "Technical Paper for the Darpa Challenge" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-03-31. Retrieved 2011-02-03.
1 2 Worthington, David (August 1, 2008). "Microsoft's shift to parallel computing". SDTimes on the Web. Archived from the original on 2009-07-15. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
↑ "Princeton Autonomous Vehicle Engineering -Section Software". Pave.mycpanel.princeton.edu. Retrieved 2019-04-08.
↑ Feniello, Ashley (20 September 2014). "Sadly, the Microsoft robotics team has been shut down. My card key stops working tomorrow afternoon... :-/". Twitter. Retrieved 2016-01-20.

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "Technical Paper for the Darpa Challenge" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-03-31. Retrieved 2011-02-03.

[sdtimes.com-2] 1 2 Worthington, David (August 1, 2008). "Microsoft's shift to parallel computing". SDTimes on the Web. Archived from the original on 2009-07-15. Retrieved 2008-08-02.

[3] "Princeton Autonomous Vehicle Engineering -Section Software". Pave.mycpanel.princeton.edu. Retrieved 2019-04-08.

[4] Feniello, Ashley (20 September 2014). "Sadly, the Microsoft robotics team has been shut down. My card key stops working tomorrow afternoon... :-/". Twitter. Retrieved 2016-01-20.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]