Would you like to make a robot to grasp something, but you think that is impossible to you just because you can't buy a robot arm? I'm here to tell that you can definitely achieve this without buying a real robot. The Smart Grasping Sandbox built by Shadow Robotics is now available for everybody on the ROS Development Studio – a system that allows you to create and test your robot programs through simulations using only a web browser. The Smart Grasping Sandbox is a public simulation for the Shadow's Smart Grasping System with theUR10 robot from Universal Robots. It allows you to make a robot to grasp something without having to learn everything related to Machine Learning, and being available on the ROS Development Studio, it allows you to test it without the hassle of installing all the requirements.

Imagine how easy it would be to learn skating, if only it doesn't hurt everytime you fall. Unfortunately, we, humans, don't have that option. Robots, however, can now "learn" their skills on a simulation platform without being afraid of crashing into a wall. This is possible with the reinforcement learning algorithms provided by OpenAI Gym and the ROS Development Studio. You can now train your robot to navigate through an environment filled with obstacles just based on the sensor inputs, with the help of OpenAI Gym. In April 2016, OpenAI introduced "Gym", a platform for developing and comparing reinforcement learning algorithms.

You probably know the Sphero robot. It is a small robot with the shape of a ball. In case that you have one, you must know that it is possible to control it using ROS, by installing in your computer the Sphero ROS packages developed by Melonee Wise and connecting to the robot using the bluetooth of the computer. Now, you can use the ROS Development Studio to create ROS control programs for that robot, testing as you go by using the integrated simulation. The ROS Development Studio (RDS) provides off-the-shelf a simulation of Sphero with a maze environment.