Tutorials and Samples

Use the Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio Samples and Tutorials to learn how to get started writing robotics applications. These tutorials are also included in each of the Editions so that you can try them out for yourself.

Visual Programming Language Tutorials

• Visual Programming Language Tutorials
  

  Microsoft Visual Programming Language (VPL) is an application development environment designed on a graphical dataflow-based programming model rather than control flow typically found in conventional programming. Rather than a series of imperative commands sequentially executed, a dataflow program is more like a series of workers on an assembly line, who do their assigned task as the materials arrive. As a result, VPL is well suited to programming a variety of concurrent or distributed processing scenarios.
  
  VPL is targeted for beginning programmers with a basic understanding of concepts like variables and logic. However, VPL is not limited to novices. The compositional nature of the programming language may appeal to more advanced programmers for rapid prototyping or code development. In addition, while its toolbox is tailored developing robot applications, the underlying architecture is not limited to programming robots and could be applied to other applications. As a result, VPL may appeal to a wide audience of users including students, enthusiasts/hobbyists, as well as Web developers and professional programmers.

• Basic Robotic Tutorials for VPL
  

  The basic robotics tutorials for VPL help you get started writing the very first service for your robot. The tutorials take you from getting input from a single sensor to controlling an actuator to being able to write a "drive-by-wire" application where you can move your robot around..

Service Tutorials

• Service Tutorials
  

  The service tutorials provide an introduction to several features of the service oriented application model provided by Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio including dealing with state management, subscriptions, and accessing services through a Web browser. The service tutorials require no robotics hardware but do require some .Net programming skills.

Hosting Tutorials

• Hosting Tutorials
  

  Services run within a context known as a DSS node. (DSS stands for Decentralized Software Services). A DSS node is a hosting environment that provides support for services to be created and managed until they are deleted or the DSS node is stopped. A DSS node can either be started as a stand-alone application or as part of another application. The hosting tutorials provide an introduction for how to host a DSS node within other applications.

Robotics Tutorials

• Setting Up Your Hardware
  

  Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio can be used with a variety of robot platforms. In general follow the instructions for setting up your hardware and its means of communication to your PC running Windows XP (or Windows Vista). The following information may be helpful in helping you set up for the robots supported by the tutorials included in this technical preview.

• Basic Robotics Tutorials
  

  The basic robotics tutorials help you get started writing the very first service for your robot. The tutorials take you from getting input from a single sensor to controlling an actuator to being able to write a "drive-by-wire" application where you can move your robot around.

• Advanced Robotics Tutorials
  

  These tutorials demonstrate more advanced topics ranging from autonomous navigation to how you can build your own support for your robot.

Simulation Tutorials

• Simulation Tutorials
  

  An important part of the Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio offering is the simulation runtime. We have designed the simulation runtime so it can be used in a variety of advanced scenarios with high demands for fidelity, visualization, scaling. At the same time a novice user can use simulation with little to no coding experience and develop in a game-like environment to create interesting applications.

Technology Samples

• Technology Samples
  

  Here you can find a broad set of samples that demonstrate how to use Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio with a range of technologies including

  • Location technologies including GPS
  • Speech technologies including text to speech and speech recognization
  • Vision technologies including color tracking, line tracking, and simplified face and hand gesture detection

  The samples also demonstrates interoperability with a variety of input devices such as game controllers, Web cams, and a variety of USB devices. Furthermore, you will find samples demonstrating interactions with SQL servers as well as RSS/Atom technologies.