1. Robotics Developer Studio and Visual Program Language VPL Yinong Chen

2. Table of Contents 1 Introduction to Robotics Studio 2
Activities and Services in VPL 3
Example 1: Hello World in VPL 4
Example 2: Creating a loop

3. Introduction to Robotics Studio
Service Client
Writing robotic applications in VPL
Service Repository
Service Broker
Writing robotic services in VPL
Robotic services in C# or VB
Service Provider
VPL C# VB
Robotics Studio
.Net Framework
Download Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 4

4. Start the Application

5. Programming Robots in Simulation

6. Applications of Robotics Developer Studio
Robosoft
Kuka
Coroware
ASU-Intel-Carl Hayden AutoBot
WhiteBoxRobotics
NXT Mindstorms
Watch it:
Robotics
Connection

7. Basic Activities of VPL
There are 10 basic activities, and many composite services in VPL Repository
Variable: supports basic types (int, string, boolean, etc) and their arrays ( called list )
Calculate: Calculate the value of an expression
Data: like the constant values in regular programming language

8. Basic Activities (cont.)
Activity
Service
Activity
Basic Activity
Construct a composite activity (flowchart) and can be wrapped as a service
Join: proceeds when all threads arrive; Can be used for creating parallel threads.
Merge: proceeds when one of the threads arrives. It can be used for creating a loop;
If: same as regular programming language construct;
Switch: same as regular programming language construct;
List: list of variables;
List of functions;

9. Services as Building Blocks
Activity
Service
Application
Activity
Basic Activity
Services are precompiled and deployed functions (activities)
Services can be placed locally or remotely over the internet.
For example:
Services that provide access to robots’ sensors
Simple dialog which accepts a string and shows it in a window
Math functions which can complete complex computations

10. A Glimpse of Applications nd Services

11. Example 1: Hello World

12. Hello World (cont.)

13. Example 2: Increment a value in a loop in VPL
The goal of this VPL program is to
Create a variable and initialize it to 1;
Increment the variable in a loop, and
Voice-output the value in each iteration using the Text-to-Speech service;
Stop when the value = 10.

14. Define the Initial Value, Assign it to a Variable, and Choose the Type

15. Increment a value in a loop (cont.)