Player/Stage: A Unifying Paradigm to Improve

Robotics Education Delivery

Monica Anderson, Laurence Thaete, Nathan Wiegand

The University of Alabama

http://robotics.cs.ua.edu/

Learning to program robots

• Novice student issues– Long learning curve– Hardware access– “Murphy’s law”

• Research student issues– Porting simulations to hardware– Different hardware programming

paradigms

http://robotics.cs.ua.edu/

Opportunity

• Use simulation to teach concepts

• Leverage layering to create a client API that is viable in both simulation and on actual hardware

• Use lower cost platforms to increase accessibility

http://robotics.cs.ua.edu/

Our Approach

• Provide abstraction and simulation via Player/Stage

• Use multiple platforms with different strengths

• Introduce concepts in a controlled manner

http://robotics.cs.ua.edu/

Player/Stage

• Robot control and simulation software [Gerkey01]

• Open source (easily modified and extended)• Supports

– iCreate roombas– Pioneers– Khepera– Others…

http://robotics.cs.ua.edu/

Player

Robot.move()

• Abstracts specific hardware into general control by interpreting client requests into hardware specific commands

TCPIP (6665)

Client program

C++, Java, Python, etc

Player with Stage Simulator

Player interpretingKoala commandsC,10,10

Player interpretingRoomba commands1000302

http://robotics.cs.ua.edu/

Stage/Gazebo

• Simulation component for algorithm testing• Clients ported to hardware with some

“tweaking”

http://robotics.cs.ua.edu/

Research Platform

• K-Team Koala – x86 500Mhz controller– Proximity sensor ring– High fidelity odometry– 802.11 networking for off-board control and

peer communications

http://robotics.cs.ua.edu/

Low-cost Education Platform

• iRobot iCreate (roomba) - (approx $500)– Interfaced with Gumstix SBC– Lower fidelity odometry and sensors– 802.11 networking for

off-board control and

communications

http://robotics.cs.ua.edu/

Logistics

• Player/Stage available on virtual Linux machine

• Simulation assignments completed individually

• Teams of three students on hardware assignments

• Hardware included 5 Koala robots and 10 roomba robots

http://robotics.cs.ua.edu/

Curriculum

• Introduce motor control and sensors iteratively in increasing detail over semester

• Use simulation with and without error coefficients

• Include self-paced hardware workshops during class time (Students are encouraged to help each other)

• Move to hardware-based assignments at about 8 weeks

http://robotics.cs.ua.edu/

Student Projects

• Student designed projects to foster creativity– PenBot - robotic logo

interpreter– Topological navigation – Life sized Pong

“Man vs vision-based player”

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are needed to see this picture.

http://robotics.cs.ua.edu/

Summary/Future Work

• Only 2 students dropped (18%) for personal reasons

• Students reported more confidence with hardware after the class

• Students created player clients for roombas (not included in lectures or class assignments)

• More advanced class is being planned that incorporates higher level behaviors such as path planning and mapping

http://robotics.cs.ua.edu/

Questions