Building a simulation - Labview Robotics

[INeededAName]

My main points:

1. Is it possible to build a xml file (like the one used for robotics simulation environments) using labview?

2. If so, would it be possible to then update this map dynamically with sensor data (so if we find a wall we add it to the simulation where we estimate it to be)?

3. If not, is there a low-no budget program that could create a map with the data that is also compatible with labview. (bit of a long shot, I realise)

I have alternative solutions but this seems like the most visually impressive. I would be thankful of any light shed upon the subject.

[nathand]

All of the things you're asking can be done in LabVIEW, but you'll need to write code to do most of them. There are tools in LabVIEW to create and modify XML documents. XML is a generic format for storing all kinds of data, so I'm not sure what you mean when you write "like the one used for robotics simulation environments." If you have a sensor that can determine the distance to a wall, and you can read that sensor value in LabVIEW, then you can update a file with that information. As for creating a map from a file, you can use a picture indicator to draw whatever you want, but again, you'll need to write the code to turn the XML into a drawing.

[NI-MarkN · Accepted solution]

Hi,

LabVIEW Robotics module simplifies a lot of things in terms of implementing your own-designed projects and environments. To create an XML file from your own custom setup you can use the LabVIEW Projects Getting Started Wizard as described in chapter 5 of this white-paper:https://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Robotics-Documents/LABVIEW-ROBOTICS-SIMULATOR-intro/ta-p/4029992

You can update the environment dynamically without the need of editing XMLs as the dedicated property nodes have got almost all possible needed options for majority of applications. If you do need to edit the XML it is possible to do so either with the XMLSchema toolkit or with direct string manipulation (as xml files are simple markup text files). That being said, the manifest file is usually loaded before the main loop in robotics simulations which would not cause a dynamic update on the environment. 

[INeededAName]

I simply mean the environments you can load as a template when creating a robotics projects, the environment you choose (as far as I can tell) is added to your project as a .xml file and used when creating running the simulation VI. But if what the user below you said is true and I would need to repeatedly reload this file rather than update it with the simulation is still running, it would not be a suitable solution for my problem (seems excessively complicated and would likely increase processing time significantly). That being said, thanks very much for taking the time to reply.