Samples and Tutorials

Article
06/05/2009

Technologies provided under the banner of Microsoft Robotics come with an extensive list of samples and tutorials. We encourage users to use them to learn how to get started writing applications.

Please note that not all samples and tutorials are available across all product releases. Please check your release for the list of samples and tutorials.

Robotics Samples and Tutorials

The robotics samples and tutorials cover how to get started building robotics application including:

Setting Up Your Hardware: Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio (RDS) can be used with a variety of robot platforms. Follow the instructions for setting up your hardware and its means of communication to your PC running Windows XP or Windows Vista. The following information may be helpful in helping set up for the robots supported by the tutorials included in this technical preview.
Basic Robotics Tutorials: The basic robotics tutorials help the user get started writing the very first service for a robot. The tutorials guide the user from getting input from a single sensor, to controlling an actuator, and to being able to write a "drive-by-wire" application where the robot can be moved around.
Advanced Robotics Tutorials: These tutorials demonstrate more advanced topics ranging from autonomous navigation to how to build specific support for a robot.
LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT samples and tutorials: The LEGO NXT examples provide a variety of services targeting the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT platform. These have been especially designed for easy use from VPL.
Technology Samples: A broad set of samples that demonstrate how to use location technologies, speech technologies, vision technologies, and more with Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio.
User Interface Samples: These are examples of services that interact with the user via the screen, mouse and keyboard.

Decentralized Software Services Tutorials

The Decentralized Software Services (DSS), DSS samples and tutorials illustrate the principles behind DSS. The samples and tutorials illustrate how to get started with simple local tasks through writing complex distributed applications.

DSS Service Tutorials: The service tutorials provide an introduction to several features of the service oriented application model including dealing with state management, subscriptions, and accessing services through a Web browser. Service Tutorials also include examples of how to use DSS Manifest Editor to design and deploy applications that run across multiple nodes. The service tutorials require no robotics hardware, but do require some .NET programming skills.
DSS Hosting Tutorials: The hosting tutorials provide an introduction for how to host DSS within other applications.
DSS Runtime and Extension Tutorials: The runtime extension tutorials demonstrate a variety of ways in which the DSS runtime can be extended such as writing custom transports.
DSS Enterprise Samples: Find a set of samples that demonstrate how to use DSS in various enterprise style scenarios such as integrating with SQL, providing Atom/RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feeds, discovery of DSS nodes using Universal Plug and Play and more.
DSS Interop and Device Samples: These are a broad set of samples that demonstrate how to use DSS with various technologies including Web cameras, Game controllers, Graphical User Interfaces (Windows Forms and Windows Presentation Foundation), etc.

Visual Programming Language Tutorials

The Microsoft Visual Programming Language (VPL) samples and tutorials demonstrate how to get started writing CCR/DSS applications using VPL.

VPL tutorials: Get started writing simple VPL programs. The tutorials take you from the classic "Hello World" to how to create your own VPL Activity to modularize an application.
Basic Robotics Tutorials for VPL: Get started writing your first service for a robot. The tutorials guide you from getting input from a single sensor, to controlling an actuator, and to then being able to write a "drive-by-wire" application where the robot can be moved around.
LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT samples and tutorials: These provide a variety of services targeting the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT platform especially designed for use with VPL.
Hands On Labs: A set of labs about robotics that extend the basic VPL tutorials. The labs take you through common robotics concepts such as reading sensors, controlling actuators, designing simple behaviors, and having a robot interacting with its environment using Robotics Developer Studio. They can be run either with a real robot or in the Simulator.

Visual Simulation Environment Tutorials

The Visual Simulation Environment Tutorials demonstrate how to get started writing application for the Microsoft Visual Simulation Environment. The samples and tutorials cover areas such as create and geometric entities, handling joints and articulated arms, using the simulation editor and much more.

In addition the VSE Samples provide more advanced examples of how to construct entities and environments in the Simulator.

Video Tutorials

Video tutorials provide in-depth on-demand videos demonstrating Microsoft Robotics technologies in practice. The videos are only available online; they are not included in any product download.

On-Demand Video Tutorials: Eight video tutorials, presented by the Microsoft Robotics team, help jump right in to robotics programming.
Screen cast with Jon Udell: Henrik Frystyk Nielsen on the RESTful architecture of Microsoft Robotics Studio: In this chat Henrik shows how applications are built by composing lightweight services in ways that will be instantly familiar to every web developer.
Screen cast with Jon Udell: Andreas Ulbrich demonstrates the Microsoft Visual Programming Language: In this chat Andreas demonstrates VPL, a diagram-oriented dataflow language. Although it was created for RDS, it is a very general way to visualize, orchestrate, and debug message-driven services that run and work in parallel.