RobotBuilder

Created by:
Steven Rodenbaugh and David E. Orin
Department of Electrical Engineering
The Ohio State University
Columbus, OH 43210







What is RobotBuilder?

RobotBuilder is a software application that can be used to rapidly develop robotic dynamic simulations. It has an intuitive Windows interface to make it easy to use, but can perform complex simulations. The dynamic calculations are performed by DynaMechs, developed by Scott McMillan. It can simulate tree structures and star topologies with O(n) complexity. It also efficiently simulates robotic articulations with closed-kinematic loops; this capability was developed by Duane Marhefka.

RobotBuilder operates in three main modes. The Build mode is used to define the robotic articulation. The user defines the links and their properties, and sees a 3D view of the current robot. The Simulate mode accurately simulates the created model. The control for the Simulate mode is provided by the user in a DLL. This provides a considerable amount of flexibility and enables the user to develop arbitrary control techniques. While the simulation is running, the 3D view shows the animated results. Finally, the Playback mode can be used to view the simulation results in approximately real time.

Why should I use RobotBuilder?

RobotBuilder in useful in a variety of situations. It has been utilized in an introductory robotics course at The Ohio State University. Skeleton projects were provided to the students, which they completed for assignments. It provided them individual "hands-on" experience, which helped enable them to understand important concepts in robotics. RobotBuilderhas also been used in research. Its flexible control design has made it useful in robotics control research. The ease-of-use of RobotBuilder has enabled researchers to focus on the control techniques and immediately see graphical results.

What is RobotModeler?

RobotModeler is a simple application to develop graphical models for RobotBuilder. It also has the ability to approximate the values of the dynamic (mass) parameters of the links modeled in RobotModeler.

Are there screenshots of RobotBuilder?

The following screenshots are taken from the example projects included in the RobotBuilder distribution.




Bounding quadruped simulation developed by Duane Marhefka. The quadruped is controlled by a heuristic-type controller.





Mitsubishi RM-501 manipulator.





Simple slider crank exemplifying closed-kinematic loop capabilities.





Simplified Whegs model discussed in the tutorial distributed with RobotBuilder.

What are the requirements to run RobotBuilder?

RobotBuilder should run on all current Windows platforms. The simulations are both graphically and computationally complex. The application will perform better on faster machines (500 MHz and 128 MB RAM minimum) with better graphics cards. On lower-end machines, the graphics may be particularly jerky, and simulation very, very slow. In addition, there may be periods of unresponsiveness from the mouse on slow machines.

The control for the simulation in RobotBuilder is specified by a user-developed DLL. Consequently, a C++ compiler is required to create custom control. Sample control code for Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 has been included in the Projects/Skeleton Code subdirectory.

How do I get RobotBuilder?

The current version of RobotBuilder and RobotModeler is 1.0. To view the changes, please see the changelog. The applications, example projects, and support files can be downloaded as a single archive here.

How do I install RobotBuilder?

Unzip the archive to a directory on your hard drive where you would like the RobotBuilder directory to be located (for example c:\Program Files). When unzipping, please make sure the directory structure is maintained (for Winzip, check the "Use Folder Names" check box on the Extract dialog box).

There is no setup program. To run, simply execute RobotBuilder.exe from the RobotBuilder folder. You may want to create a shortcut to the application to place on your desktop.

How do I uninstall RobotBuilder?

Since there is no setup, simply delete the RobotBuilder folder.

Is there documentation?

User's Guides have been written for RobotBuilder and RobotModeler. In addition, an Example System Tutorial has been written. This documentation is in .pdf format and is located in the Docs subdirectory and is also available from the Help menu.

In addition, the algorithms utilized in the simulation and control have been discussed in several publications:

Scott McMillan, David E. Orin, and Robert B. McGhee, "Object-Oriented Design of a Dynamic Simulation for Underwater Robotic Vehicles," IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 1886-1893, 1995.

Duane W. Marhefka and David E. Orin, "Dynamic Simulation of Running Machines Containing Kinematic Loops," submitted to IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, 2001.

Duane W. Marhefka, David E. Orin, James P. Schmiedeler, and Kenneth J. Waldron, "Intelligent Control of Quadruped Gallops", Accepted for publication in IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2003.

Questions? Bugs?

While the applications have been useful in our research, they are still under development. If you encounter any problems, or have any questions please send an email to RobotBuilderBugs@yahoo.com.

If a bug report is being submitted, please include the application version number, your operating system, and the steps to reproduce the problem.

We appreciate your interest.

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