SGER: Peer-to-Peer Transport and High-Level Interface for the Player/Stage System

Sri International, Menlo Park CA

Investigators

Abstract

SGER: Peer-to-Peer Transport and High-Level Interface for the Player/Stage System Experimentation with robotic systems requires significant software infrastructure. Simple tasks, like teleoperating a robot or visualizing its sensor state, require a significant amount of work. Well-understood algorithms are re-implemented over and over again in laboratories around the world. The proposed project will address the shortcomings of this traditional "do-it-yourself" approach to robotics infrastructure by extending and enhancing the popular Player/Stage (P/S) software suite. The P/S project develops infrastructure that improves research practice and accelerates development by handling tedious tasks and providing a standard development platform. By collaborating on a common system, the engineering burden is shared, and an environment is created in which published work can be objectively evaluated. A secondary goal of the P/S Project is to support robotics education and the use of robots as teaching tools in other areas, such as computer programming. The P/S system works well for many applications, but has certain limitations that make it a less-than-perfect fit for some domains. Two key-needs will be fulfilled in the course of this project: peer-to-peer transport and configuration and monitoring tools. These significant enhancements will support research in emerging areas, such as distributed data fusion and large-scale cooperative control. It will also facilitate the use of Player in the classroom. All code developed in the course of this work will be contributed under an open source license to the Player/Stage Project.