Version 2 introduces programming to Strabo Pathfinder™ With Strabo's new built-in in scripting engine, you can now write you own Strabo functions to integrate your robot's hardware and software. Visual Basic programmers now enjoy the ability to extend the Strabo platform to integrate sensors, motors, displays, etc.  Strabo Scripting provides direct access to Strabo Pathfinder maps and opens the world through thousands of available ActiveX componants. ActiveX componants are a core componat of the windows environment and generally provide access to devices through a defined interface. ActiveX componants can be written in a variety of languages, including Visual Basic.

Give virtually ANY robot navigational skills. As long as your robot can talk to the Strabo Pathfinder™ server, it can learn to navigate in the real world.

Now in its third year, Strabo Pathfinder™   is STILL the de facto standard navigation system for mobile robots. 

Now, Version 2 allows you to create your own functions to access the strabo maps in real time. Using SLAM technology (Simultanious Location And Mapping) Your robot can build a map of it's environment while it explores the world around it. Or, you can provide a map of the environment in advance and share them with other robots.

Strabo Pathfunders™s lightning fast path searching algorithms tell your robot how to find its way to its destination by marking points of interest on the maps as waypoints. Using Strabo Pathfinder™, your robot will have the mobility go just about anywhere you want it to go.

Want your robot to go to the fridge and get you a drink?

Simply tell Strabo Pathfinder™ to go to the fridge and Strabo Pathfinder™ will return a path to the fridge that your robot can follow. All your robot has to do is follow directions.

How hard is it to use?

  1. Start Strabo Pathfinder
  2. Open Browser window
  3. Type in http://localhost:80/getposition

Congratulations, You’ve just made your first call to Strabo Pathfinder. The getposition command returns the last known location of the robot. As you can see, Strabo acts like any well behaved web server, except that it does not serve up files. Instead, Strabo serves navigation information as needed by the robot, in this case, the web browser.

Because all known obstacles are mapped in advance, Strabo Pathfinder™ will plot a course around them. If an obstacle is placed in the path of your robot, Strabo can record it and generate a new path around it. (robot needs sensors to perform this function)

Getting Strabo Pathfinder™ to work with your robot is easy. Strabo Pathfinder™ is a server that your robot can learn to talk to. Your robot software will have to be modified to talk to the Strabo server by calling it. Most robots have a programming language that allows their owners to develop complex behaviors and perform the wide variety of functions that general purpose robots are often called upon to perform. Most of these languages include the ability to talk to other processes or other computers over a network. Strabo Pathfinder™ takes advantage of this ability to provide an 'online' navigational system.

Once the robot can talk to Strabo Pathfinder™, the robot simply sends a request to Strabo Pathfinder™ to 'tell' the robot how to get from A to B and when Strabo Pathfinder™ returns the step by step directions, the robot has only to execute them.

Because Strabo Pathfinder™ is a server application, it does not even have to be on the robot. Using a wireless interface like wi-fi or Bluetooth will allow Strabo Pathfinder™ to reside on a network server. The robot only has to be able to physically communicate with the network server. This allows the robot to remain fairly simple and brings a whole new diminsion to your robots abilities. By offloading the navigation system to a remote server, the server becomes the brain of the robot and can be expanded in real time without even touching the robot. This is perfect for applications where massive computing power us needed but the robot is too small to carry the required computer.


Strabo Scripts
Server side scripting support via vbScript, the same scripting engine found in Active Server Pages. Create custom functions to expand the Strabo platform as you see fit. You have full access to all map obpjects and functions.

SLAM 
Strabo Pathfinder™ supports Simultanious Location And Mapping for creating maps in real time and helping the robot find it's current location using input from ultrasonic or infrared range finders. If you're using image recognition software, you can enhance the localization capabilities by markking the know locations of objects and using an on board camera to recognize these objects.

Map Resolutions
Maps range in size from 100 tiles to a side up to 500 tileson a side. The size of the tile is up to you. It can be virtually any size, though 1 inch, 4 inch and 12 inch tiles are the most common.

Import/Export Maps
Maps can be created with any graphics program that supports BMP files. These files are easily imported into Strabo Pathfinder™.

Strabo Pathfinder™ maps can also be exported to BMP files for editing in other graphics programs. Great for floor plans.

Operate Remotely or Localy
Strabo Pathfinder™ runs on a Windows computer. If your robot supports windows, Strabo Pathfinder™, can run directly on it. Otherwise, install it on a network server and connect to it using WI-FI, Bluetooth or any other wireless communications system.

Waypoints and MapTransitions 
Strabo Pathfinder™ supports an infinte number of maps and these maps can be linked together to allow your robot to roam almost anywhere.

Graphic Overlays
Objects in Strabo can be represented by images. These images can be scaled and rotated  as needed. These object can be used as navigational waypoints or as solid objects such as chairs, tables, etc.

Super Fast Path Searching
Strabo Pathfinder™ uses Dijkstra and A* search alogorithms to perform pth searches. Both are considered among the best path searching algorithms available.

Network Server  
Strabo Pathfinder™ is a network server that accepts HTTP calls written in any language that supports TCP/IP protocols (everyone). This includes most languages developed in the last twenty years. Embedded microprocessors that don't support TCP/IP can still connect to the server through gateways. Call us, we'll develop a gateway for your product.

Requirements
Server: Windows XP, 2000, ME, 98
Client: Wireless tcp/ip if not run locally

Who was Strabo?

(stra´bo)  b. c.63 B.C., d. after A.D. 21, Greek geographer, historian, and philosopher, b. Amasya, Pontus. He studied in Asia Minor, Greece, Rome, and Alexandria and traveled extensively in Europe, N Africa, and W Asia.

Often called 'the father of geography', he  wrote a group of historical sketches (47 books) quoted by later authors but almost entirely lost. His Geographia, is based on his own observations and on the works of his predecessors, including Homer, Eratosthenes, Polybius, and Posidonius; it contains historical material as well as descriptions of places and peoples and is a rich source of ancient knowledge of the world.  The Geographia is divided into 17 volumns., 8 on Europe, 6 on Asia, and one on Africa, mainly Egypt. This work is considered to be the definitive work on geography until the christian era.

Strabo, like many of his contemporaries believed that the world itself was round. It would take 1500 years and the voyage of Christopher Columbus before the question would be settled.

Release 2 is now available.   $49.95

What's New in Version 2: Strabo Scripts: Create your own custom functions that operate within the Strabo world.

For more information email: info@wehali.com

Do you want to try Strabo Pathfinder™ before you buy? Download version 2 of Strabo Pathfinder™ and give it a spin. Unregistered users can use the program free of charge for 30 days with absolutly no restrictions. After that, you'll have to register it to continue using it.

# Strabo and Strabo Pathfinder are trademarks of FUSION Robotics