Dr. Stephen Balakirsky, National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA

 

 

9:00 – 10:30 USARSim simulation and related competitions
10:30 – 11:00 Break
11:00 – 12:30 SimWare middleware and low-level robotic control
12:30 – 13:30 lunch
13:30 – 15:30 NML communications software and the 4D/RCS architecture
15:30 – 16:00 Break
16:00 – 17:30 MOAST and higher-level behaviors
   

Note that USARSim, SimWare, NML, and MOAST are all open-source packages that will be provided to tutorial participants

 

Objectives and Topics

 

This tutorial provides a hands-on introduction to a set of simulation and performance evaluation tools that enable researchers and developers to build high-fidelity models of robots that behave realistically within a variety of complex environments. This tutorial will focus on both supporting development of validated robotic platforms, and designing and participating in competitions that promote the performance evaluation of robotic systems through simulation.

 

Unified System for Automation and Robot Simulation (USARSim) is a multi-robot simulator based on a commercial game engine. Highly realistic simulations of commercially available and research oriented robotic platforms are possible. Initially introduced to support the development of search and rescue robots, USARSim has proved to be a tool with a broader scope; from robot education and human robot interfaces to factory automation, cooperation, and more. USARSim is also the basis for both the RoboCup Virtual Robot Competition and the IEEE/NIST Virtual Manufacturing and Automation Competition (VMAC).

 

Mobility open architecture simulation and tools (MOAST) is a framework that builds upon the 4D/RCS architecture to provide standard interfaces and tools for the control of mixed (real and simulated) robotic systems. These interfaces have been incorporated into USARSim and open source controllers, world models, and sensor processing modules have been developed to augment the autonomous control of simulated entities.

 

The tutorial aims to provide and in depth introduction to the systems, highlighting USARSim and MOAST’s possible use for different research oriented and practical tasks. No prior knowledge about the systems will be assumed, and only moderate experience with a general purpose language (C/C++, Java, ...) will be required. A tentative list of topics includes the following:

• System architecture

• Sensors and actuators in USARSim

• Robot control and other modules in MOAST

• Basic behaviors programming

• Validation of sensors and robots

• Mixed real/virtual operation

• Design of robotic competitions

• Overview of IEEE/NIST VMAC and RoboCup Virtual Robots competition

 

 

Stephen Balakirsky received a Doctor of Engineering degree from the University of Bremen, in Bremen Germany, and both a Masters of Science and Bachelors of Science from the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. He is currently a researcher in the Knowledge Systems Group of the Intelligent Systems Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He has over 20 years of experience in multiple areas of robotic systems that include simulation, autonomous plan and behavior generation, human-computer interfaces, automatic target acquisition, and image stabilization. He has been co-organizer of several workshops on knowledge representations for autonomous systems and is extensively involved in the IEEE Virtual Manufacturing and Automation Competition, the RoboCup Rescue virtual competition, and real/virtual robotic operation. Dr. Balakirsky’s research interests include planning systems, simulation development environments, knowledge representations, world modeling, and architectures for autonomous systems. He is a senior member of IEEE.