Behind the scenes with the BallmerBot
By Simon Bisson & Mary Branscombe in Editorial
Posted in robotics, Toys & gadgets, Microsoft on
The BallmerBot joined Bill Gates on stage at his last public keynote here at TechEd 2008 Developers in Orlando earlier this week. Waving an XBox Live lifetime subscription (Bill’s leaving gift from a grateful Microsoft, according to the latest version of the “Bill’s Last Day” video Microsoft first showed at CES), the robot waddled out of the wings looking like a cross between Johnny 5 and a Segway.
U-Bot 5’s new name may not be what the developers expected, but underneath the humour and the hype is a fascinating story of how PC technology and modern developer tools have simplified the development of what until recently would have been a very complex and very expensive piece of hardware.
Developed by UMass Amherst and using Microsoft’s Robotics Studio as a development platform, U-Bot 5 uses dynamic balancing to stay upright on its two oversized wheels. The three heavy batteries aren’t between the wheels as you might expect, instead they’re in the top of the robot, acting as part of the pendulum.
Most of the robot has been specially fabricated, with only the screen and the web cam coming off the shelf. While a balancing robot is impressive enough, one that can lift and carry is even more inspiring. The simple hands are able to grasp most objects, and even throw a baseball (or an egg…)
It’s an impressive piece of work. What’s more impressive is that the software components can be reused by the next generation of hardware. That’s where Robotics Studio comes in, as it mixes .NET development tools with a visual programming environment. The various pieces of hardware are treated as independent services - and the resulting application can be tested in simulation before being loaded onto the robot hardware. With several people developing software vying for robot-time can be an issue, and physics-based simulation lets code go through plenty of tests before it’s loaded onto the hardware.
There’s some manual control, coming from an XBox controller, though this really only sets the parameters the robot’s control software works within.
The whole thing is fascinating, as it means that complex robots can be developed quickly, reusing the software developed for earlier versions. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel everytime you change the hardware All you need to do is modifiy the underlying run times, load the existing components, and away you go…
It’s just a little disturbing when you see a small metal device wandering around chanting “Developers! Developers! Developers!” while waving its shiny metal arms.
–Simon
Rated: 60% (2 votes)
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