Virtual Robotics: Robotics on a Budget: (Virtual NXT, Virtual VEX and More)

Why bother with virtual robotics? Because constructing actual robots (even amateur versions) tends to be fairly expensive. For example, the best-selling LEGO Mindstorms kits start at around three hundred dollars. Of course you can assemble a simple robot for much less than that but if you want to add additional sensors or more powerful motors or if you decide you want to build more complex programmable robots the cost goes up in a hurry. Obviously real-world robots offer challenges that virtual robots don't dealing with a broken switch or a robot that sees its own shadow. But dealing with those types of hardware problems also takes time and attention away from evaluating which robot designs work best for different situations or the most effective computer program to solve a particular problem. Virtual robotics can be an important tool for anyone interested in robotics. Robotic simulation provides a way to quickly prototype robot designs and test programing algorithms at little or no expense. For example you can test a new pathfinder algorithm on a virtual robot in a fraction of the time it would take to load the program to an actual bot, let it run, record the results, adjust the program and repeat the process until you're satisfied with the results. Whether your motivation is financial or a matter of saving time and energy (or both), there are a number of options available for anyone looking for a virtual robotics system. Virtual Robotics on a Budget offers a quick overview of some of the more popular virtual robotics simulators and programing languages.