Microsoft updates Robotics Software Platform

REDMOND, USA: Microsoft Corp. announced an improved version of Microsoft Robotics Studio, just months after the December 2006 introduction of its robotics application development toolkit.

The new Microsoft Robotics Studio 1.5 adds support for Windows Embedded CE 6.0 and Windows Mobile 6, which allows developers to more easily deploy advanced scenarios and software applications on embedded platforms of a wider variety and lower cost.

"We’re constantly seeking ways to improve the product through new features and provide a catalyst to academic, hobbyist and commercial segments," said Tandy Trower, general manager of the Microsoft Robotics Group at Microsoft.

Microsoft Robotics Studio 1.5 includes improvements to its visual programming language and 3-D real world physics based visual simulation environment, built on the AGEIA Technologies Inc. New services have also been added, including support for vision and speech recognition, expanded documentation and a new editor that makes it easier to configure and target software services for robotics platforms.

Microsoft Robotics Studio is being used by many academic institutions, including Princeton University, which will use it to power its entry in this year’s DARPA Grand Challenge robotics competition, where teams will navigate driverless automobiles autonomously through a mock urban environment.

The University of Texas, which is applying the software to support advanced control of robot manipulators; the University of Washington Biorobotics Lab, which is using it in the development of software for its human-assistive robot research; and the University of California, Merced, which is building models for Microsoft Robotics Studio to support urban search and rescue multirobot simulation.

To foster greater interoperability across all industry segments, Microsoft has placed the Decentralized Software Services Protocol (DSSP) used in Microsoft Robotics Studio under its Open Specification Promise. This means that the Microsoft patents for the services-oriented protocol specification may be used by anyone in the world, at no cost, and for any type of development including free software, open source, academic, or commercial, enabling interoperability among a wide variety of devices and applications.