RoboSim: a simulation environment for programming virtual robots

In this paper, the design of RoboSim, a simulation environment for programming virtual Linkbot and Lego Mindstorms NXT/EV3 robots, is described in detail. RoboSim integrates into the Ch programming environment, a C/C++ interpreter that provides the ability to remotely control robots through interpreted C/C++ code. The same Ch code can control either hardware or virtual robots without any modification. Open source software projects Open Dynamics Engine, OpenSceneGraph, and Qt are employed to produce the virtual environment and user interface which provide the capability of running on all major software platforms. The design of the software includes multiple modules each specific to a particular task; therefore, the simulation library and graphical user interface (GUI) utilize the common pieces. The GUI provides an interactive view of RoboSim to add robots, obstacles, and graphical objects to preview the environment before executing code for the robots. Execution of Ch code designed for the robots generates a new RoboSim window which has the identical scene from the GUI with dynamic simulation capabilities. The interpreted code controlling the simulation can be paused and resumed as necessary to fully understand how the robots are moving.