Microsoft Updates Windows for Robots
Microsoft said Monday that it had released a improved version of its Robotics Studio platform, adding support for Windows Embedded CE 6.0 and Windows Mobile, as well as programming improvements.
The Redmond company introduced its robotics platform in December of last year, while also announcing that it would support RoboCup 2007, a project that aims to build a team of humanoid robots that would be able to defeat the world champion soccer team by 2050.
As advertised, the company did participate this year, simulating soccer matches between humans and robots, as well as also creating a sumo simulation that was released to the public today. Microsoft Robotics Studio 1.5 furthers the company's foray into robotics by adding support for Windows CE 6.0 and Windows Mobile 6, which it says would help developers to deploy advanced scenarios at a lower cost.
Additionally, improvements to the programming language and real-world physics simulation engine are part of the new release. Vision and speech recognition, better documentation and a better code editor have also been added to the platform.
"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's robotics platform will make its debut in the annual DARPA Grand Challenge competition as Princeton plans to use it to power its own entrant, the company said.
To foster further development, the Decentralized Software Services Protocol (DSSP) used in the platform has been placed under the Microsoft 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," the company said.