Abstract—Nowadays robot are widely used in many fields. Recognizing its importance, robotics course has been included as part of Engineering and Computer Science undergraduate curriculum. Teaching students using physical robots can be an expensive task. Therefore the alternate solution is to utilize computer simulation. This paper describes our experience on developing an educational prototype mobile robot simulation using Microsoft Robotics Studio (MSRS) utilizing its Visual Simulation Environment (VSE) starts from creating the mobile robot, integrating into the environment and controlling the behaviour. Index Terms—Microsoft Robotics Studio, robot simulation, robotics, virtual environment I. INTRODUCTION HE robotics industry emerged and is developing in much the same way that the computer business did 30 years ago; it is envisioned that in the near future robotic devices will become a nearly ubiquitous part of our day-to- day lives [1]. Apart from that, robotics has been shown by a number of researchers to be motivating and beneficial in teaching science and technology [2]. Teaching students using physical robots can be an expensive task and only limits the usage of robot only during lab hours. A. Robot Simulation Generally, simulation plays an important role in the field of robotics. Simulations permits inexpensive and less time consuming experiments. Countless number of experiments can be conducted, modifications in the robots dynamics can be made, and changing and rebuilding experimental environment can be done in the simulation. These allow researchers and students to perform exhaustive experiments without the worry of damaging the actual robot. The robot can be tested, and the virtual model can be finely tuned to replicate similar performances on equivalent tests. Another important attribute of simulations is repeatability; which allows for simplified debugging because the identical Manuscript received March 23, 2011. Y. Yusof is a lecturer with the Universiti Kuala Lumpur Malaysia France Institute, 43650 Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia (phone: +603-8926-2022; fax: +603-8925-8845; e-mail: yusman@mfi.unikl,edu.my). M. F. Abu Hassan is a lecturer with the Universiti Kuala Lumpur Malaysia France Institute, 43650 Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. (email: fadzil@mfi.unikl,edu.my). N. J. Mohd. Saroni is a BET Industrial Automation and Robotics student at Department of Industrial Automation, Universiti Kuala Lumpur Malaysia France Institute. W. M. F. Che Wan Azizan is a BET Industrial Automation and Robotics student at Department of Industrial Automation, Universiti Kuala Lumpur Malaysia France Institute. situation can be precisely generated to trigger a known error and later check the solution. In addition to these, all vital data can be logged. This gives researchers and students an understanding of inconsistencies in their algorithm performance. B. MSRS Simulation In this paper we present the feasibility studies done on MSRS as a tool and platform for building a customized educational simulation based on an actual mobile robot; the MFIBots shown in Fig. 1. The focus will be on utilizing and exploring the MSRS components and features in developing mobile robot simulation. II. RELATED WORK Almost every field in engineering make use of and reap the benefits of computer simulations. Robotics is no exception. At present there are several robot simulators ranging from open source and free to commercial and proprietary software. The level of simulation differs considerably among the simulators. Some allows the user to specify robot behaviours or plans, while others can be used to examine the exact path trajectory driven by a robot. A superior robot simulator must both support simulation and allow robot to interacts with the environments i.e. permit sensing and react to its environment changes through sensors and actuators. Followings are a short survey done on simulators offering these features. A. Survey of Robot Simulators Urban Search and Rescue Simulation (USARSim): A mobile robot simulator initially developed to focus on differential drive systems for wheeled robots [3]. The simulation attracted lots of interest with wide community support and the initial platform was enhanced significantly. At present, the available version supports wider range of robots and sensors, which includes underwater vehicles, legged platforms, and humanoids. Users of this simulation Development of an Educational Virtual Mobile Robot Simulation Y. Yusof, M. F. Abu Hassan, N. J. Mohd. Saroni, and W. M. F. Che Wan Azizan T Fig. 1. MFIBots – physical model of simulated mobile robots. Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering 2012 Vol II WCE 2012, July 4 - 6, 2012, London, U.K. ISBN: 978-988-19252-1-3 ISSN: 2078-0958 (Print); ISSN: 2078-0966 (Online) WCE 2012