Product Description
Wrox's Professional Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio is one of the first guides to Microsoft's new platform for visualizing and programming robotics applications. Written by the founding architect of the product, Professional Microsoft Robotics Studio is heavy on examples making this a hands-on guide that will get readers building robotics applications quickly using 3 case-study robots: an indoor security robot, winning Magellan competitor and a chess-playing robotic arm.

Topics include:

Common Concurrency Runtime
Sending and Receiving Messages
Building and Accessing Services
Using a browser and the Internet as the UI for a robot
Using supported hardware and integrating new hardware
Simulating the real world for robotic interactions
Extending the simulation environment
Deploying to hardware
Using the Visual Programming Language
and more.

Source code and online support at Wrox.com.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 4 reviews)

If you want deep knowledge, this is the book.

This is not an intro book, but is the book you want if you want in depth knowledge. Very good book, but you'll likely use it as a reference rather than a tutorial as the topics are pretty targeted.
December 05, 2008

Thorough but not easy material to get through

I have not yet completed reading this book though I have read the first few chapters.

My first impression is that although this book is fairly thorough and comprehensive, it's not the easiest material to get through.

The authors start with the CCR (Concurrency and Coordination Run-Time) and discuss it in such a way that it has nothing to do with robotics. Obviously, it makes sense as to why you would have a specialized set of components to handle concurrency, etc., but it helps to know how it fits in the big picture of robotics programming.

Anyway, I don't regret having purchased this book, but I wish it was laid out more in the context of robotics rather than just the individual components of the Microsoft Robotics Studio.
October 26, 2008

Best book for the job

Of the two textbooks available, Professional MRDS is an excellent reference book for those who need guidance with MRDS. The textbook has a plethora of examples that are easy to grasp and has an excellent code library (available from the website at no cost). In addition, the hands-on attitude of the authors make MRDS a pleasurable experience.
July 08, 2008

Table of Contents

This is not an actual review of the book since I am still waiting for it to arrive. I wanted to post the Table of Contents here to help out others since I did not see one from Amazon...

Foreword.
Introduction.

Part I: Robotics Developer Studio Fundamentals.

Chapter 1: Exploring Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio.

Chapter 2: Concurrency and Coordination Runtime (CCR).

Chapter 3: Decentralized Software Services (DSS).

Chapter 4: Advanced Service Concepts.

Part II: Simulations.

Chapter 5: The MRDS Visual Simulation Environment.

Chapter 6: Extending the MRDS Visual Simulation Environment.

Chapter 7: Using Orchestration Services to Build a Simulation Scenario.

Chapter 8: Simulating Articulated Entities.

Chapter 9: Adventures in Simulation.

Part III: Visual Programming Language.

Chapter 10: Microsoft Visual Programming Language Basics.

Chapter 11: Visually Programming Robots.

Chapter 12: Visual Programming Examples.

Part IV: Robotics Hardware.

Chapter 13: Using MRDS with Robotics Hardware.

Chapter 14: Remotely Controlling a Mobile Robot.

Chapter 15: Using a Robotic Arm.

Chapter 16: Autonomous Robots.

Chapter 17: Writing New Hardware Services.

Index.
May 24, 2008

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

Programming Microsoft® Robotics Studio
by Sara Morgan

Robot Programming : A Practical Guide to Behavior-Based Robotics
by Joe Jones, Daniel Roth

LEGO Mindstorms NXT Power Programming: Robotics in C
by John C. Hansen

The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor's Guide
by David J. Perdue

LEGO Mindstorms NXT
LEGO