  Python based Robot Interactive Development Environment (PyRIDE) is a software
that supports rapid \textit{interactive} programming of robot skills and
behaviours on PR2/ROS (Robot Operating System) platform. One of the key
features of PyRIDE is its interactive remotely accessible Python console that
allows its users to program robots \textit{online} and in \textit{realtime} in
the same way as using the standard Python interactive interpreter. It allows
programs to be modified while they are running. PyRIDE is also a software
integration framework that abstracts and aggregates disparate low level ROS
software modules, e.g. arm joint motor controllers, and exposes their
functionalities through a unified Python programming interface. PR2 programmers
are able to experiment and develop robot behaviours without dealing with
specific details of accessing underlying softwares and hardwares. PyRIDE
provides a client-server mechanism that allows remote user access of the robot
functionalities, e.g. remote robot monitoring and control, access real-time
robot camera image data etc. This enables multi-modal human robot interactions
using different devices and user interfaces. All these features are seamlessly
integrated into one lightweight and portable middleware package. In this paper,
we use four real life scenarios to demonstrate PyRIDE key features and
illustrate the usefulness of software.
