Microsoft Robotics Studio, simple simulation

Question

I am soon to start with Microsoft Robotics Studio.

My question is to all the gurus of MSRS, Can simple simulation (as obstacle avoidance and wall following) be done without any hardware ?

Does MSRS have 3-dimensional as well as 2-dimensional rendering? As of now I do not have any hardware and I am only interested in simulation, when I have the robot hardware I may try to interface it!

Sorry for a silly question, I am a MSRS noob, but have previous robotics h/w and s/w experience.

Other than MSRS and Player Project (Player/Stage/Gazebo) is there any other Software to simulate robots, effectively ?

Answer 1

MSRS tackles several key areas. One of them is simulation. The 3D engine is based on the AGeia Physics engine and can simulate not only your robot and its sensors, but a somewhat complex environment.

The demo I saw had a Pioneer with a SICK lidar running around a cluttered appartment living room, with tables, chairs and etc.

The idea is that your code doesn't even need to know if it's running on the simulator or the real robot.

Edit:
A few links as requested:
Start here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd939184.aspx alt text http://i.msdn.microsoft.com/Dd939184.image001(en-us,MSDN.10).jpg

Then go here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd939190.aspx alt text http://i.msdn.microsoft.com/Dd939190.image008(en-us,MSDN.10).jpg

Then take a look at some more samples: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc998497.aspx alt text http://i.msdn.microsoft.com/Cc998496.Sumo1(en-us,MSDN.10).jpg