Microsoft Robotics Studio : Community Technical Preview

The Microsoft Robotics Studio is a Windows-based environment for academic, hobbyist and commercial developers to easily create robotics applications across a wide variety of hardware. Key features and benefits of the Microsoft Robotics Studio environment include: end-to-end Robotics Development Platform, lightweight services-oriented runtime, and a scalable and extensible platform.

Today at RoboBusiness Conference and Exposition 2006, Microsoft Corp. showcased the community technology preview (CTP) of the Microsoft Robotics Studio Windows-based environment to easily create robotic applications. Several industry partners offered working models and demonstrations of Robotics Studio technology in action.

Tandy Trower, General Manager, Microsoft Robotics Group explains the objectives

To be more specific the Microsoft Robotics Studio delivers three areas of software:

1. A scalable, extensible runtime architecture that can span a wide variety of hardware and devices. The programming interface can be used to address robots using 8-bit or 16-bit processors as well as 32-bit systems with multi-core processors and devices from simple touch sensors to laser distance finding devices.
2. A set of useful tools that make programming and debugging robot applications scenarios easier. These include a high quality visual simulation environment that uses for software physics supplied by the Ageia Technologies PhysX engine.
3. A set of useful technology libraries services samples to help developers get started with writing robot applications.

Are you interested in Robotics? Microsoft Robots Invasion Contest should interest you.