On 24/10/06, Pei Wang <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
The microsoft robotics studio is quite an unimpressive release. I had expected to see user friendly IDEs and drag-and-drop function block programming, but there's none of that. About the best I can say is that it's at a very early stage and isn't something which is easy to get started with.
The only redeeming feature of the microsoft robotics studio is the physics simulation. This might become of interest further down the line, but such simulations are useless unless the robot has a good perception system and is able to construct realistic models of its environment so that it may test out the consequences of possible actions before actually performing them (rather like Ben's conception of "free will").
Well in most robotics applications there is a huge gap between The World and high level cognitive concepts formed about it. That gap is called perception, and at the moment it's only very sparsely filled. We have various low resolution sensors, such as ultrasonics and laser scanners but these only usually give quite an impoverished view of what the world out there is like. One of my main aims over the next few years is to try to fill this perception gap, using vision systems to build high fidelity models. Once you have a good model you then stand a fighting chance of doing all kinds of reasoning and planning within the "cognitive" realm.
The LEGO kit is really unbeatable for value. You can also remote control the robot using bluetooth. It doesn't have a camera, but it's not inconceivable that you could attach a wireless webcam and try some image processing on a desktop computer. The types of reasoning which you'll be able to do with a LEGO robot will be very limited, and a long way from anything which might be regarded as high level cognition, but it would be a good place to start.
The main excitement will come when PC based robots are available at a reasonable ( < $1000) cost, because PCs mean that some serious processing power can be brought to bear and detailed mapping of the environment becomes possible. Whitebox Robotics claim that their aim is to get the cost of their product into this kind of price range, but at the moment it remains as merely an expensive research curiosity.
Any comments on Microsoft Robotics Studio?
The microsoft robotics studio is quite an unimpressive release. I had expected to see user friendly IDEs and drag-and-drop function block programming, but there's none of that. About the best I can say is that it's at a very early stage and isn't something which is easy to get started with.
The only redeeming feature of the microsoft robotics studio is the physics simulation. This might become of interest further down the line, but such simulations are useless unless the robot has a good perception system and is able to construct realistic models of its environment so that it may test out the consequences of possible actions before actually performing them (rather like Ben's conception of "free will").
Recently some people are talking about "cognitive robotics", though I
haven't found any major new idea beyond what "robotics" has been
covering, except the suggestion that high-level cognition should be
taken into consideration. Am I missing something important?
Well in most robotics applications there is a huge gap between The World and high level cognitive concepts formed about it. That gap is called perception, and at the moment it's only very sparsely filled. We have various low resolution sensors, such as ultrasonics and laser scanners but these only usually give quite an impoverished view of what the world out there is like. One of my main aims over the next few years is to try to fill this perception gap, using vision systems to build high fidelity models. Once you have a good model you then stand a fighting chance of doing all kinds of reasoning and planning within the "cognitive" realm.
If I want to start to try some low-budget programmable robot (say, in
the price range of Robosapien V2 and LEGO Mindstorms NXT), which one
will you recommend? I won't have high expectation in performance, but
will be interested in testing ideas on the coordination of perception,
reasoning, learning, and action.
The LEGO kit is really unbeatable for value. You can also remote control the robot using bluetooth. It doesn't have a camera, but it's not inconceivable that you could attach a wireless webcam and try some image processing on a desktop computer. The types of reasoning which you'll be able to do with a LEGO robot will be very limited, and a long way from anything which might be regarded as high level cognition, but it would be a good place to start.
The main excitement will come when PC based robots are available at a reasonable ( < $1000) cost, because PCs mean that some serious processing power can be brought to bear and detailed mapping of the environment becomes possible. Whitebox Robotics claim that their aim is to get the cost of their product into this kind of price range, but at the moment it remains as merely an expensive research curiosity.
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