RUBIOS

Infobox Software
name = RUBIOS



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developer = UCSD Machine Perception Laboratory, in association with the open source community
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latest release version = 2.0
latest release date = June 6, 2008
latest preview version =
latest preview date =
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programming language = Java
operating system = Cross-platform, including Mac OS X, MS Windows, Linux
platform = Java
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genre = Robotics suite
license = GNU
website = http://mplab.ucsd.edu/RUBIOS

RUBIOS is a Java based open source communications API for Social Robots. It is designed for academic, hobbyist, and commercial developers and can handle a wide range of robot hardware and software, bringing them together under a common communications framework. RUBIOS is built on top of [http://www.quickserver.org/ QuickServer] , an open source Java library for multi-threaded, multi-client TCP server applications. RUBIOS 2.0 was originally developed as part of the RUBI project ref|Tanaka2007 to serve as the backbone for interconnecting the different perceptual and control modules of the RUBI robot. RUBI is a social robot developed to interact with toddlers and assist teachers in early childhood education settings. RUBIOS has been battle tested in Mac OS X 10.4.X and Windows XP with Cygwin.

Communication Infrastructure

Every RUBIOS-based robot runs a Master Relay Server (MRS) that acts as a central hub with "Chat Rooms" where collections of nodes can send messages to all the other nodes, or to a restricted set of nodes. In order to share messages a node needs to register with the MRS. Nodes can dynamically register and unregister at will. RUBIOS provides base classes in Java (and some in C++ and MXFlash) to handle node registration and message passing in a transparent manner. A collection of example nodes is provided to handle common tasks such as simple message passing, message logging, communication with the serial port, sound, console services, interaction with Phidgets, video services, and starting/stopping external programs. RUBIOS can be easily extended to add other services as needed. Plans to develop a community for development and exchange of new RUBIOS services is underway.

RUBIOS is being currently used in a variety of research projects at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), the University of Victoria, the University of Alberta, and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. In all these cases RUBIOS provides easy interconnectivity between different software components, including computer vision, animation, and motor control.

RUBIOS is available for download at the UCSD Machine Perception Laboratory [http://mplab.ucsd.edu mplab.ucsd.edu]

See also

* Microsoft Robotics Studio
* Webots
* URBI
* Turtle (robot)
* Robotics suite

References

* [1] Tanaka F., Cicourel, A. and Movellan, J. R. (2007). Socialization Between Toddlers and Robots at an Early Childhood Education Center. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Vol 194, No 46, 17954 x17958.

* [2] [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.10/robot.html WIRED Magazine Article About the RUBI project]

* [3] [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.10/robot.html NPR Feature about RUBI project]

* [4] [http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn12879-giggling-robot-becomes-one-of-the-kids-.html | New Scientists Feature on the RUBI project]

* [5] [http://mplab.ucsd.edu/wordpress/projects/RUBIOS/RUBIOSQuickStart.pdf RUBIOS Quick Start Guide]

External links

* http://mplab.ucsd.edu/RUBIOS
* [http://www.anykode.com/ Marilou Robotics Studio]
* [http://www.cyberbotics.com Webots]
* [http://playerstage.sourceforge.net/ Player Project]