The first attempt didn't work so good.
Posted on 06/20/2006 10:51:58 AM PDT by AntiGuv
Microsoft released the preview version of a software toolkit for building robot applications today, pledging to ignite the robot market in the same way it did the PC market some 20 years ago.
The software maker sees robotics as being on the verge of a rapid take-off, fuelled by the availability of cheap, high-performance hardware components. But the market is being held back by a need for better tools and a common software platform that will let applications be reused on different types of robots, according to Microsoft.
Enter its Robotics Studio, a package of tools and runtime software that the company will demonstrate Tuesday at the RoboBusiness conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A technical preview of the software is available now for free download. It is aimed at all types of robot builders, from commercial users to academics and hobbyists.
The company will also announce that it is funding a new robotics center at Carnegie Melon University, due to open late this year. It didn't disclose the size of its investment.
Vote of Confidence
Microsoft's entry to the field is a vote of confidence that could accelerate the development of robots for industrial, service, and entertainment use. It's not the first company to make such a play, however: Among the software platforms available, rival Sun Microsystems has long promoted its Java software for developing robot applications.
Microsoft's platform appears to be for robots that either run Windows or act as clients connected to Windows PCs, according to its robotics Web site. It will provide technical information so that other software and hardware vendors can make their products compatible with its tools, it said.
Microsoft Robotics Studio includes a software runtime, or execution environment, that can run in a variety of devices with hardware ranging from 8-bit processors up to 32-bit systems with multicore processors. It also includes visual programming tools for creating and debugging applications.
The tools include a handful of software libraries and services, but Microsoft is counting on third parties to flesh these out and extend its platform, it said. Programs can be developed using the languages in Microsoft's Visual Studio and Visual Studio Express products--C# and Visual Basic.Net--as well as its JScript and Iron Python languages.
The software released Tuesday isn't ready yet for commercial use, Microsoft said, and it didn't offer a timetable for shipping the final product. Technical previews are typically used to gather feedback that's used to refine the product before it's finalized.
Tandy Trower, the general manager of Microsoft's robotics group, likened the state of the robotics industry to that of the PC industry in its early days. Among the problems: hardware is fragmented, applications aren't portable and good development tools are missing, he wrote on Microsoft's Web site.
Microsoft hopes that by providing a common software platform for robots, and encouraging third parties to create compatible applications and tools, it will be able to grow the industry much as its ubiquitous Windows operating did for PCs.
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If successful it will mark the first time Microsoft has had any intelligences once so ever.
Windows
Skynet Edition
:-)
The first attempt didn't work so good.
But, plans have been delayed in order to fix the Microsoft spell-checker...
The Terminator: The SkyNet funding bill is passed. The system goes online on August 4th, 1997. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. SkyNet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14am Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug.
Sarah Connor: And, Skynet fights back.
The Terminator: Fortunately for the human race, Skynet had a Blue Screen of Death by 2:56 am Eastern time and humanity was able to shut it down.
"If successful it will mark the first time Microsoft has had any intelligences once so ever."
Agreed. if profitable, it will represent their second profitable product (Windows being the first) after an unbroken string of failures. Microsoft is a Utility. They administer the Windows product which is a monopoly. Utilities cannot compete in the marketplace. Ever. Microsoft knows this, but they have to pretend they don't, to deny their basic function as a utility---which is fundamentally illegal. Fortunately for Microsoft, they are so rich they can literally waste billions of dollars on products like Xbox and their stupid operating system for handheld phones without ever achieving a profit.
Carnegie Melon is the associated agricultural school. The first project is a self-aware cantaloupe harvester.
Artificial intelligence?
Heck, I'd settle for almost-regular-intelligence from Microsoft.
LOL. You don't think they're working on replacing the workers harvesting the melons that Americans don't..?...ahhhh, never mind.
I guess that is why Bill Gates is a poor man ...
It's easy to foresee a Microsoft robot running amok and killing everybody in the house.
Great! This is just what the world needs... a bunch of MS powered robots that go berzerk randomly after 5 minutes to several hours of use.
"Microsoft Sets Its Sights on Artificial Intelligence"
First I thought this was a Scrappleface headline!
Maybe Micro$oft can just go for "Intelligence" of any kind first!
I would imagine they would take any kind of intelligence they could get!
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