Stage is a simulation software that models a two-dimensional bitmapped environment populated by a cluster of mobile robots, sensors, and objects.
The software is most commonly used as a module for Player, providing virtual devices for the network. Users can write robot controllers and sensor algorithms as 'clients' to the Player 'server'. Clients will hardly know the difference between real robot devices and their simulated Stage counterparts. This makes it easy to test controllers and algorithms with real robots.
Stage features various sensors and actuators, including sonar, scanning laser rangefinders, vision, odometry, and a differential steer robot base. It allows experiments with realistic robot devices that you may not have. With the simulation capabilities of Stage, users can rapidly prototype controllers destined for real robots.
Additionally, Stage can be used as a C library to provide a robot simulation inside your own programs. This functionality is useful if Player is not suitable for your needs or if you want custom simulation models based on a well-known simulation engine.
The Player Project offers open source software tools for robot and sensor applications, enabling research in robot and sensor systems. The Player robot server is probably the most widely used robot control interface in the world, and its simulation backends, Stage and Gazebo, are also very widely used.
The latest version of Stage incorporates several fixes that were made since the previous major release. These include the addition of a unit test suite to verify functionality, bug fixes, and interface improvements. The fiducial, laser, position2d, simulation, sonar, and speech interfaces are now working correctly, and many other enhancements have been made.
In conclusion, Stage is a powerful simulation software that offers researchers and developers a simple and cost-effective way to model mobile robots, sensors, and objects in a two-dimensional environment. Its compatibility with Player and customizable C library make it a great tool for developing complex robotic systems.
Version 3.0.1: N/A