The Player Project (formerly Player/Stage Project) creates

free and open-source software Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a license that grants users the right to use, modify, and distribute the software modified or not to everyone free of charge. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term encompassing free ...

for research into

robotics Robotics is the interdisciplinary study and practice of the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. Within mechanical engineering, robotics is the design and construction of the physical structures of robots, while in computer s ...

and

sensor A sensor is often defined as a device that receives and responds to a signal or stimulus. The stimulus is the quantity, property, or condition that is sensed and converted into electrical signal. In the broadest definition, a sensor is a devi ...

systems. Its components include the ''Player'' network

server Server may refer to: Computing *Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides requested information for other programs or devices, called clients. Role * Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending custome ...

and the ''Stage'' platform robotics simulators. Although accurate statistics are hard to obtain, Player is one of the most popular open-source robot interfaces in research and post-secondary education.

Overview

The Player Project is an umbrella under which two robotics-related software projects are currently developed. These include the Player networked robotics server, and the Stage 2D robot simulation environment. The project was founded in 2000 by Brian Gerkey, Richard Vaughan and Andrew Howard at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

at Los Angeles, and is widely used in robotics

research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

and

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

. It releases its software under the

GNU General Public License The GNU General Public Licenses (GNU GPL or simply GPL) are a series of widely used free software licenses, or ''copyleft'' licenses, that guarantee end users the freedom to run, study, share, or modify the software. The GPL was the first ...

with documentation under the

GNU Free Documentation License The GNU Free Documentation License (GNU FDL or GFDL) is a copyleft license for free documentation, designed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) for the GNU Project. It is similar to the GNU General Public License, giving readers the rights ...

. The Player is set of application programming interfaces (

API An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build ...

s, e.g., position2d, bumper, ir, speech, power) that can be implemented by a robot chassis ( Roomba, Khephera, etc.), or over serial line or network, or by Stage (2D simulator) or Gazebo (3D simulator).

Gazebo

The Gazebo 3D robot simulator was a component in the Player Project from 2004 through 2011. Gazebo integrated the Open Dynamics Engine (ODE) physics engine, OpenGL rendering, and support code for sensor simulation and actuator control. In 2011, Gazebo became an independent project support by

Willow Garage Willow Garage was a robotics research lab and technology incubator devoted to developing hardware and open source software for personal robotics applications. The company was best known for its open source software suite Robot Operating Syste ...

.
- Gazebo Simulator

Supported robots

* Acroname's Garcia * Botrics's Obot d100 * CoroWare Inc. Corobot and Explorer * Evolution Robotics' ER1 and ERSDK robots * iRobot's Roomba vacuuming robot * K-Team's Robotics Extension Board (REB) attached to Kameleon 376BC * K-Team's Khephera * MobileRobots' (formerly ActivMedia) PSOS/P2OS/AROS-based robots * Nomadics' NOMAD200 (and possibly related) mobile robots * RWI/iRobot's RFLEX-based robots (e.g., B21r, ATRV Jr) * Segway's Robotic Mobility Platform (RMP) * UPenn GRASP's Clodbuster * Videre Design's ERRATIC mobile robot platform * White Box Robotics' 914 PC-BOT

References

{{Reflist Free software projects Robotics simulation software 2000 software 2000 in robotics

Overview

Gazebo

Supported robots

See also

References