Installing Required Software

The tutorial makes use of several pieces of (free!) software:

• Microsoft Robotics Studio (1.0) is the base platform that provides us with a 3D simulation environment and allows us to talk to real or virtual hardware components (motors, sensors, etc.).
• Microsoft Visual C# 2008 Express Edition is needed to compile the MazeSimulator package (see below) that we will be using to generate a virtual maze for our robot to explore. It might be possible to install MazeSimulator without compiling it, but in any case it is probably a good idea to have the C# development environment available, since it often comes in useful for various miscellaneous tasks when working with MSRS.
• MazeSimulator is a package developed by T. Taylor that makes it easy to generate virtual 3D maze environments for use in MSRS. We will be using it in this tutorial to create a simple collection of rooms and objects that your robot can navigate through.
• IronPython is an implementation of the Python language specifically designed to work with Microsoft's .NET framework. The .NET integration makes it possible to use Python to write code for MSRS. Because most undergraduate computer science students at the University of Toronto (where this tutorial was developed) are familliar with Python, we have chosen use this programming language.

Installing Microsoft Robotics Studio (MSRS)

Installing MSRS is very straight-forward. You can download the installer from here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/robotics/downloads/default.aspx#1_0

As of writing, a preview of version 1.5 is available. However, 1.0 is the version that this tutorial was developed for, so it is recommended that you download MSRS 1.0 rather than 1.5.

Note that you will need a PC running Windows XP or Vista capable of rendering 3D (i.e. just about any modern Microsoft Windows PC will suffice).

Installing Microsoft Visual C# 2008 Express Edition

Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition can be downloaded free of charge here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/downloads/

Installing MazeSimulator

To come...

• Download the simulator from here: http://sky.fit.qut.edu.au/~taylort2/MSRS/MazeSimulator/MazeSimulator.htm
• If you encounter problems with missing 'msbuild', try adding C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727 to your Path environment variable. If you don't have this directory, you'll probably need to install Microsoft's .NET 2.0 Framework SDK.

Installing IronPython

As of writing the newest version of IronPython is 1.1. An alpha release of IronPython 2.0 is available, but this tutorial assumes that you're using 1.1. Installation instructions are as follows:

1. Download from http://www.codeplex.com/IronPython/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=2573 (select the "Bin" binary version)
2. Unzip the downloaded zip file to a temporary folder
3. Copy the following files from the unzipped IronPython folder to the bin directory in your MSRS installation (e.g. C:\Microsoft Robotics Studio 1.5 (CTP May 2007)\bin):
   • ipy.exe
   • ipyw.exe
   • IronMath.dll
   • IronPython.dll
4. To test that IronPython was installed correctly, try the following:
   1. Browse into the directory where you installed MSRS, and open the bin folder.
   2. Double click on the ipy.exe file you copied here earlier. A python prompt should open up.
   3. In the python prompt, type:

      import clr
      import sys
      import System
      sys.path.Append(System.Environment.CurrentDirectory+"/services")
      clr.AddReference("Ccr.Core.dll")
      from Microsoft.Ccr.Core import *

5. If entering the above code does not result in any errors then your IronPython installation for MSRS should be good to go.

NEXT: Working with the simulation environment >>