The Player/Stage Project: Tools for Multi-Robot and Distributed Sensor Systems

TLDR

Player/Stage is a community Free Software project. The paper presents Player/Stage tools for multi‑robot and distributed sensor systems, aiming to minimize controller constraints while remaining device‑independent, non‑locking, and language‑ and style‑neutral. Player serves as a network‑transparent robot device server, and Stage provides a lightweight, highly configurable simulator capable of supporting large robot populations. The authors review current usage of Player and Stage and identify several promising research opportunities enabled by this infrastructure.

Abstract

This paper describes the Player/Stage software tools applied to multi-robot, distributed-robot and sensor network systems. Player is a robot device server that provides network transparent robot control. Player seeks to constrain controller design as little as possible; it is device independent, non-locking and language- and style-neutral. Stage is a lightweight, highly configurable robot simulator that supports large populations. Player/Stage is a community Free Software project. Current usage of Player and Stage is reviewed, and some interesting research opportunities opened up by this infrastructure are identified.