Robot software
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robot software is the coded commands that tell a mechanical device (known as a robot) what tasks to perform and control its actions. Robot software is used to perform tasks and automate tasks to be performed. Programming robots is a non-trivial task. Many software systems and frameworks have been proposed to make programming robots easier.
Some robot software aims at developing intelligent mechanical devices. Though common in science fiction stories, such programs are yet to become common-place in reality and much development is yet required in the field of artificial intelligence before they even begin to approach the science fiction possibilities. Pre-programmed hardware may include feedback loops such that it can interact with its environment, but does not display actual intelligence.
Currently, malicious programming of robots is of some concern, particularly in large industrial robots. The power and size of industrial robots mean they are capable of inflicting severe injury if programmed incorrectly or used in an unsafe manner. One such incident occurred on 21 July 1984 when a man was crushed to death by an industrial robot. That incident was an accident, but shows the potential risks of working with robots. In science fiction, the Three Laws of Robotics were developed for robots to obey and avoid malicious actions.
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[edit] Robotics Software Projects
- Dave's Robotic Operating System (DROS) Free Software for the robotics researcher or hobbyist.
- Player/Stage Project - A very popular Free Software robot interface and simulation system, used for robotics research and teaching worldwide.
- Pyro, Python Robotics - Popular robotics Free Software used in universities and colleges. Easy to use, yet powerful, allows students and researchers to write high-level programs to explore Artificial Intelligence and robotics without worrying about low-level details.
- Webots - A commercial robot simulation package that allows physically realistic simulations and allows you to prototype your own robot. It also comes with a broad palette of predesigned robot models, e.g. Aibo, e-puck, khepera, hoap2, hemisson, etc.
- OROCOS - the Open Robot Control Software project provides a Free Software toolkit for realtime robot arm and machine tool control.
- Robot Intelligence Kernel
- MARIE - Mobile and Autonomous Robotics Integration Environment - is a Free Software using a component-based approach to build robotics software systems by integrating previously-existing and new software components.
- roboDNA - RoboDNA researches Dashboard technologies used to operate robots from a PC, including a free version for the Lego NXT.
- ORCA - an open-source framework for developing component-based robotic systems. It provides the means for defining and developing the building-blocks which can be pieced together to form arbitrarily complex robotic systems, from single vehicles to distributed sensor networks.
- Microsoft Robotics Studio - Available as a "technology preview" free download.
- ARIA API libraries from MobileRobots, Inc.
- SqueakBot is a free teaching robotic platform, usable by young people to control and simulate various robots.
[edit] Robotics Linux Kernel Drivers
- Parallel Port PWM/Encoder Linux Driver - a poor-mans motor controller software driver.
[edit] See also
- Behavior based robotics and Subsumption architecture
- Developmental robotics
- Epigenetic robotics
- Evolutionary robotics
- Cognitive robotics
- Robot control
- Automated planning and scheduling
- Cybernetics
- Artificial consciousness
- Telerobotics / Telepresence
- Swarm robotics
[edit] External links
- "The Basics - Robot Software". Seattle Robotics Society.
- G.W. Lucas, "Rossum Project".
- "Mobile Autonomous Robot Software (MARS)". Georgia Tech Research Corporation.
- "Tech Database". robot.spawar.navy.mil.
- Adaptive Robotics Software at the Idaho National Laboratory
