An ontology-based collaborative service-oriented simulation framework with Microsoft Robotics Studio^®

In Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), the concepts that services can be discovered and application can be composed via service discovery bring great flexibility to application development [Y. Chen, W.T. Tsai, Distributed Service-Oriented Software Development, Kendall/Hunt, 2008, [4]]. Microsoft Robotics Studio (MSRS) is a recent initiative in applying SOA to embedded systems and one of its key features is its 3-D simulation tool that allows applications to be simulated before deployment. This paper proposes an ontology-based service-oriented simulation framework with MSRS by adding a set of ontology systems, i.e., service ontology, workflow ontology, entity ontology, and environment ontology. These ontology systems store relevant information useful to compose simulation applications, and items stored also cross reference to each other to facilitate reusability and rapid application composition, This paper then provides a detailed case study on a popular robotic game Sumobot using MSRS to illustrate the key concepts and how they can support rapid simulation development.1The contents of this paper were developed under a grant from US Department of Defense and the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), US Department of Education. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.¹.