Introduction
The roblets library collects the roblets we developed in the past. The first release includes:
NetworkRoblet (responsible for sensing WiFi information)
NodeRoblet (reads a number of performance counters and the state of the battery to provide information about the state of the PC where the roblet is running)
ER1Roblet (contains two roblets to control ER1, one for reading sensors, and the other for sensing and controlling motors)
The first two agents do not depend on the robot architecture, and are therefore reusable on any PC (and Windows) based architecture. For ER1 we designed two roblets to provide a more abstract view of the socket connection to the ER1 Control Center. The two roblets do a first abstraction step by separating IR sensors from motors. Another relevant thing is that the roblet controlling motors isn't just output: it also provides information about the state of the motors; because this information is not provided by ER1 software we provide a reasonable approximation of this self sensing. In our experience the ability of feeling the body improved the behavior of the robot.
Notes
In order to run the agents you can use the Roblets container distributed in binary form (also available in source form in the Robotics4.NET project). Modify the app.config file in order to decide which roblets are to be loaded.
Why is in Robotics4.NET?
Roblets are the reusable unit of our robotics infrastructure. We believe (and hope) that roblets would hep to encourage the reuse of robotics modules.
Example