RUBIOS Robot Operating System

RUBIOS is a Java based open source communications API for for Social Robots. It provides an easy to use, light, open source, and inter-platform alternative to the Microsoft Robotics Studio. RUBIOS is built on top of 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 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 MacOSX 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 is being currently used in a variety of research projects at the University of California San Diego, 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 mplab.ucsd.edu

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