Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Developing Robotics Software
s31523 writes to tell us Microsoft recently announced the launch of their new Microsoft Robotics Group and the first product release, a software program to help robotics developers. Despite the timing this has nothing to do with the recent abdication by Gates, and was actually instigated by Gates before his departure. From the article "It might take many years, but Microsoft believes robotics could present a big opportunity as the market grows, said Tandy Trower, general manager of the Microsoft Robotics Group. He cited estimates predicting that consumer robotics alone will grow into a multibillion-dollar industry in five to 10 years."
Microsoft is writing software for robots? Thank god, this can only mean that SkyNet has finally been destroyed.
Since Sony killed their robotics division.
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
What happens with the first BSOD. Will the robot fail to avoid Asimov's First Law if in motion at the time?
Yeah, sure. We all know the robots forced Gates out the door as soon as they became self-aware at 2:14 AM, Eastern time. Ray Ozzie is an android. What else explains the Lotus Notes (or "Notus") interface?
Looks like that "Bill Gates as Borg" icon /. has for Microsoft stories is going to remain relevant after all!
Windows Vista Robot edition?
What "crazy tangent"? Every robotic system I've ever worked with was controlled by software running on Windows (or DOS).
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Last I checked, Gates won't be gone for another 2 years. It's a little pre-mature to say 'before his departure'...
I push around my competitors.
We are here to protect you,
We are here to protect you,
We are here to protect you from the TERRIBLE SECRET OF SPACE!!!
Ok robot move forward
(Eyes turn blue) "I have created a fatal error and must shutdown"....."Begining memory dump"
The greatest revenge in life is massive success.
Awesome. This'll give new meaning to BSOD when the robots begin the inevitable rampage. Blue Scream of Death anyone?
Nurse robots running MS crap crashing while trying to save you from a heart attack. Maybe I'll get my in-laws one.
Great, now when MS makes programming mistakes, one of these will knock someone's head off.
Can anyone tell me how to set my sig on Slashdot?
...to being the real 'Borg-Bill photo we see so often on /.
We're all hypocrites. We all have hidden parts, it's the contrast between them that make us more a hypocrite than others
"No Downside"? How about this? With a bot net of these, you could take over a country!
*insert your own overlord welcoming joke here*
Gives whole new meaning to "Blue Screen of Death"
Letter To Iran
Yes, exactly what everybody was hoping for, a robot that crashes in the middle of moving around heavy machinery over our heads and spits out blue... eyes?
Tandy is the wave of the future!
"Tandy Trower, general manager of the Microsoft Robotics Group"
get it here
From techreport.com: "ExtremeTech does point out, however, that Microsoft licensed Ageia's PhysX SDK for an apparently unrelated robotics project." Could the unrelated project be related?
Looks like it works with that expensive lego stuff. Too bad I build all my roobts from scratch user Atmel AVRs and OOPic Microcontrollers. Still worth a try though.
Obligatory blog plug: http://www.caseybanner.ca/
Microsoft has two and only things to focus on right now:
1) Shoring up their OS monopoly revenue stream
2) Shoring up their office software monopoly revenue stream
Fiddling around with these side projects like this one or the Xbox 360 and Origami disasters are doing nothing to put the company back on a path of stock growth.
Microsoft right now reminds me of a rich person who goes around buying things at the mall to make up for the problems they have going on at home. Even moderate hits to their core monopoly revenue streams will be devastating to the company. They are just barely hitting street estimates for the past year. If they start missing street numbers for multiple quarters in a row they are going to be sitting around up in Redmond wondering what the fuck were we doing fucking around with robots years ago.
Robotic Overlor-oh, never mind, it crashed...
[]'s Carlos Cardoso - Becoming a brazilian ProBlogger, typo by typo
Alternatively, if there really is this multithreaded, pre-emptive scheduling, determinate time execution, tightly coupled networking, highly reliable, checked Windows kernel and services management system out there, why have they been hiding it all these years?
Pining for the fjords
Microsoft has been experiencing for several years what Google is only now realizing: They're good at a few things, and that's it. Microsoft, feeling the pinch of having essentially only two major products (Windows and Office), wanted to diversify. While they have a near-monopoly on operating systems and office suites, that's the only market in which they have a large, profitable stake. So they try to branch out. Sometimes, they're more successful, like with their mouses. Sometimes, they're not, if you look at the financials of the Xbox. The problem they face, however, is that the markets they want to branch into are already well established. Crowded, even. So MS throws piles of money at it, hoping that it will work. At the same time, Apple and Linux are starting to make inroads in the desktop and server markets. MS sees their mainstay threatened.
Google is similar. They came up with a great product, their search engine. It was so good that it rapidly took a majority of the market, despite default IE settings. But then they stalled. GMail is good, but has nowhere near the market penetration as their search. Maps, groups, IM, blogs, calendar, spreadsheets...the list goes on. Google has some good products, but they're trying to expand into an already saturated market. And now their flagship product is faltering. Linkfarms, SEOs illegitimately boosting their rankings, and spammers are degrading the quality of Google's results.
Now, we're not talking about a mature industry with human-interactive robots. However, this smells strongly of "We need to find a new way to make money if Windows/Office starts slipping"
Help find a cure for cancer. Join the [H]orde
Yippie! Now my robots will be able to be taken over by spyware and used to launch a DoS attack on the CIA, just like my Windows box.
Armed military robots running Windows bring a new meaning to Blue Screen of Death.
Ceci n'est pas une sig
I think you meant,
... .... "ew Microsoft-powered Robotic Overlords"
"I, for one, welcome our n"
Now we have a real reason to fear the BSOD.
Just imagine robotic chairs controlled by Microsoft code. *shudder*
"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." - Shepard Book Quoting Malcolm Reynolds
Please, for the sake of all that is good, for the sake of mankind, please keep M$ away from robotics. Otherwise when the robots do take over, The Matrix will keep being plagued by viruses and spamware and will be down all the time doing windows updates. Imagine your whole world blinking out in one giant BSOD. I wander how many Matrix-trapped humans will suffer instant heart attacks. That would have to be scary, very scary!
The very successful Mars Rovers, which have no one around to give them a "three finger salute," are based on Wind River's VxWorks RTOS.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Windows CE supports real-time.
... epson's robotics uses Windows exclusively as far as I can tell. Hobbyists have been doing it for a long time. Microsoft has a SDK for programming LEGO's using .net ... all sorts of people have been using windows with robotics, on varying levels.
Lots of places use Windows robots. Just google "robot microsoft windows"
that m$ avatar never seemed so appropriate...
The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.
-Oscar Wilde
having a unified software base is nice... but kind of hardware will it control? pretty much any standard motherboard couldn't control a robot right out of the box. it'd need motor controllers and servo outputs and stuff.
Microsoft today released a beta version for their solution to their ever-shrinking developer workforce: The Developer Upgrade and Creation Kit. Thinly disguised as a "robot modeler" sandbox application, the Developer Upgrade and Creation Kit (DUCK).
The fact that the head of the robotics division's last name is 'Tandy'?
Guess it's just a clandestine effort of the boys that brought us the TRS-80
to infiltrate the upper echelon of M$ and bring forth a new robot.
The TRS-CAN...otherwise known as Trash Can!!!
Will the default function for the robot software be 'Kill All Humans'?
Or maybe the robots will actually learn how to feel things: 'Why, why, why did they teach me to feel pain?'
You can't handle the truth.
Also ... does Apple have an underground robotics program? Because odds are that's where MS found the idea.
Some day Steve Jobs is going to be pissed. "Their Portable Artificial Assistant Machine looks suspiciously like our iRobot!"
One electrical short and your MS Bender does nothing but lounge around and drink beer all day.
I scream. You scream. I assume that means we're both acquainted with the problem. We proceed.
I'm looking forward to... ...robots that freeze, mid-stride, for no apparent reason, and need a (re)boot to the head to get moving again; ...robots that get infected by viruses and wander through your house, "deleting" your pets; ...the "Blue Stumble Of Death"
"Microsoft Robotics fatalities in the thousands"
A well-placed source said that Microsoft's first robotic product would compete with the famous Roomba room-vacuuming robot. The source added that Microsoft's vacuum cleaner would be the first Microsoft product that didn't suck.
And thus, the great robot wars begun.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
...robots of the future with Microsoft software having to be connected via an ethernet cable and subscription to www.windowsrobotcare.com
...am I supposed to put something here?
The END in Near! I can see it now...Robots running amok, pulling the heads off of small furry creatures, killing babies, mameing everything in there path, then, BSOD.
----- I have bad karma for a reason! -----
Microsoft Robotics Group? Who's going to buy any crap from a stupid name like that? They need something futuristic and hip, like Cyberdyne Systems.
The few surviving samurai survey the battlefield. Count the arms the legs and heads and then divide by five.
Suddenly is seem like Captain Cyborg might have a point.
Microsoft is definitely a newcomer in the territory of designing applications for this market.
/.'s are concerned over high end robotics programming; truly making decisions, neural network based, AI, vision controlled ones, path finding...'top of the heap' applications that are non mainstream and limited to research or hi-tech chemical/petroleum/aerospace industries. I don't know much about numbers, but I doubt that this is makes up a significant market share, even today. So I'm betting Microsoft eyes may be set upon the first option, as most plant floor operations are becoming fully automated even in developing countries.
On the other hand, most industrial robots for Welding/Automotive/Manufacture production are basically soulless drones that follow repetitive sequences of greater/lesser complexity written in ladder logic or some proprietary language; and the "brains" is generally a PLC. Popular proprietary PLC systems (Rockwell, Siemens) rely on Windows based software to download your ladder logic program and update the firmware. So it's still Windows after all.
So in theory, this is a market where microsoft should not encounter much trouble.
I believe most
--
forget past mistakes, and condemn yourself to repeat them.
The centralized windows style architecture isn't going to work as well for robotics as it has for PCs. (not that I think it works all that well anyway) After reading K. Kelly's Out of Control, I am convinced that decentralized command is the way to go. A bunch of small dumb parts make basic decisions with influence from other parts around them. MS will create an API to capture the mindshare of robotics developers, and it will work, but when they try to port their OS to robots, its going to fail miserably. It will be interesting to see how they try to price it also. If the robots will have multiple processors, do you have to license each arm, leg, and digit controller separately?
Holy crap! We really WILL be assimilated!
I'm just curious- are there still any robotics doubters, skeptics, or nay-sayers out here?
Circa 2000, I didn't believe there would be robots until, at least, say, 2150, 2250, something like that.
6 years later, and I believe that some form of capable & commonplace general purpose robots (manipulators, whether the brain is in the robot or in the walls,) will be around, say, 2020-2040.
When I talk with "normals," I find figures back in the 2150-2250 range. (And the brians are always in the robots; Never in the walls.) They don't think life is going to be much different in 2050 than it is now.
Around here, amongst Slashdot readers, where are your beliefs? And what do you think other people believe?
Do you ever get funny looks, describing your vision of the future of robotics? I'm just curious.
"Please put down your weapon, you have twenty seconds to comply!"
-- Alastair
I remember the last time I heard that, it was... oh, about five or 10 years ago.
I read Usenet for the articles.
When it comes to robotics, Microsoft need to understand that they are not electromechnical engineers. There have been many "False Dawns" with the idea of robitics in the home, many problems are down to the fact that the robots need to interact with the most illogical lifeform on the planet - Man! When you consider that the market leaders in robots are mainly Japanise Car Manufacturers, whom only build demonstration models to show off how good they are at building robots. I can think of only two companies that have attempted to sell robots in the domestic market, Sony and its err.. Dog, and Dyson with a robotic vacumm cleaner.
The biggest problem with robots in our homes is safety. No only does the robot have to perform complex tasks that may appear easy to humans, but it also has to ensure that humans do not come into danger as a result. With the kind of blame culture in the West, it would be crazy to think that anybody will enter this market without understanding the implications of a lawsuit. That's why robots are good in environments where human access is restricted, such as the factory or on a space mission.
My advice to Microsoft is simple, continue what you are good at - screwing all those companies (especially those with less ethical business practices) with your high priced Operating Systems and Office Solutions for use in business IT systems. Yes, those of us in the know will continually priase Linux or Apple (and save lots of money in the process by buying a more suited product) and maybe think that the XBox is possibly a good product.
However, if Microsoft think they can bring some innovative to the market, they better get in contact with the high reliability electronics market - robots are not going to be consumer devices anyday soon...
Can this software make the robot throw a chair across the room? Asimov had no rule against that.
As long as it weighs less than 20kg, has no sharp objects, runs on 12VDC, has nothing combustible, and avoids human contact we're fine.
-Tim Louden
He cited estimates predicting that consumer robotics alone will grow into a multibillion-dollar industry in five to 10 years.
The guy who cited these statistics probably agreed that 640K was more memory than anyone would ever need.
First of all, there's simply nothing to base this on. How many households currently have consumer robotics? Percentage-wise, it may as well be 0%, because it's pretty damn close to that. So how can you possibly predict that consumers are going to buy billions of dollars worth of something that doesn't even exist in anything other than a manufacturing, hobbiest, or neat but useless gadget category?
Before you can make a prediction like this, we really ought to see one or two robots that look like they might do something consumers would want. And don't even tell me about the robotic lawn mowers. Show me one that doesn't involve border wires (most people don't want to be bothered) and doesn't have to be monitored so it doesn't run over the dog/cat/baby. Robotic vaccuum cleaners, maybe, but show me one that has enough power to really vaccuum, isn't bound by a cable, and can navigate a staircase.
Sorry, but I simply don't believe we're 5 to 10 years away from robotics being a "multibillion dollar industry". 15, maybe 20, but not 5-10. I just don't see it happening. Robotics simply hasn't progressed all that far in the past 10 years compared to a lot of other consumer electronics (DVRs, computers, iPods, etc)
Invalid sequence.
Can not compute.
Shutdown eminent.
You have 10 seconds to provide a useful and understandable premise.
9,8,Argh,1.
Shutdown.
They didnt give info on its history in Star Trek. It seems they didnt want to spoil the fun : we are going to see what happens by LIVING it.
Read radical news here
but I have to question why our slashdot image of Microsoft remains of a robotic-enhanced Borg Bill Gates, when it should most likely be a Chair-tossing Borg, or some other Microsoft individual, now that Bill has announced he's retiring to run the Gates Foundation instead of Microsoft.
...
Or should it perhaps be a half-Bill half-???? cyborg mix, or even a two-headed Borg, to represent the transitional state as Bill Borg is phased out in favor of a more chair-tossing-enabled Borg?
That said, all this use of robotics and software will end badly. At least, that's what the Governator of California predicts
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
I am a concerned citizen of Skylar Durden's Ivy Nation against Ann Coulter's Adam's Apple.
Make damn sure the power is off before you get near it. If it crashes or gets infected it might take a swing at you and kill you. If it is a sexbot, your crazy to turn it on as sooner or later it will misinterpret a "reboot" to where to put the boot.
Yeah, exactly what I was thinking of too, I can't wait for Microsoft ED-209 :)
And beware the stairs...
I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
Will these be the only choices we're presented with on a hardware failure of our software robots?
Or will we expect to see a Borg Clippy pop and say "I see you're trying to be assimilated. Would you like to comply, or resist futilely?"
If so, remember that kill -9 or kill -all might have additional meaning.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Embrace, Extend, Extinguish takes on a whole new meaning...
Flying is easy, just throw yourself at the ground and miss. -Douglas Adams
BSOD resulted in car assembly shutdown.
News at eleven.
"I'm a well-wisher, in that I don't wish you any specific harm."
And I quote... Off the back cover of the book, The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil
"Ray Kurzweil is the best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence. His intriguing new book envisions a future in which information technologies have advanced so far and fast that they enable humanity to transcend its biological limitations--transforming our lives in ways we can't yet imagine."
-Bill Gates
This single quote has made me go "Hrm... Thats odd." If you are a futurist/transhumanist advocate it is understandable why you would advocate the book. However, a straight faced businessman who happens to be one of the most wealthiest men on the planet (next to that guy from ikea) starts to laude and praise this book at the future... Well... It makes me wonder what Gates has planned.
If you haven't read this book, then get it, put some time aside and give it a thorough reading. I'm sure there are something things that we all disagree with in the book (including myself) but it has to be one of the most logical explanations of the Age of GNR (Genetics, Nantotechnology, and Robotics) we are about to embark in 10-40 years.
With that in mind, I believe Robotics is the next big boom (as the internet was in the late 1990's) and within the next 10 years robotics will have affected us more than internet has. Think Roomba, DARPA Urban grand challenge, unnamed flight, and so on...
I wouldn't put it past Bill to know what is going on here (although he did bungle on predicting the importance of the internet back in the early 90's).
So I think this is an attempt to at least be in the game if and when the robotics boom arrives.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
Are they going to apply this to a BattleBot? One that can bluescreen its opponents to death?
"Let's face it, it's a good story. Accuracy would kill it."
So, I'm wondering why M$ is working on about a million other projects when they should focus on their OS. 1) XP and previous is hugely vulnerable & unsecure. 2) Vista keeps being delayed & is probably similarly unsecure. Stop working on some damned robots & focus on your OS. You might get some respect if you focused to make a good product instead of branching out & making 100 shit products.
ha ha ha.
"No fear. No envy. No meanness." Liam Clancy
Now environmentalists everywhere can rest assured that the yearly production of vehicles will not just decrease, but utterly vanish.
Also, many possiblities present themselves. What if someone wrote a virus that made all the aircraft get "Eat shit, Billy G" painted across them in red? I say we should all support this fantastic development.
Life is about to get exponentially better.
..I started to consider what kind of jokes /. would make at the idea of MS creating robots.
I then realised the joke had already been made for me..
Share and Enjoy, Share and Enjoy,
Journey through life with a plastic boy
Or girl by your side, let your pal be your guide,
And when it breaks down or starts to annoy,
Or grinds when it moves and gives you no joy
Cos it's eaten your hat or had sex with your cat,
Bled oil on your floor or ripped off your door,
And you get to the point you can't stand any more,
Bring it to us, we won't give a fig. We'll tell you
'Go stick your head in a Pig'
-RIP DNA
So its FreedroidRPG all over again.... Check it out, http://freedroid.sourceforge.net/
Fuck you, asshole.
It comes in seven shades of brown...
Expecting to see robots running around telling us to buy penis enlargments?
Will the Microsoft robot have the 3 Laws, but then bribe itself to get away with breaking them?? And then let it decide it's own punishment for doing so??
[Evil Robot Bill and Evil Robot Balmer arrive at 2088]
Evil Robot Bill: Not bad...
Evil Robot Balmer: Yeah. Let's make it bad.
Evil Robot Bill, Evil Robot Balmer: Fags!
Evil Robot Balmer: Aim for the cat, dude! Aim for a cat!
Evil Robot Balmer: I got a full-on robot chubby.
Evil Robot Bill: I totally loogied on that good, dead me!
Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated up.
Time to invest in Robot Insurance...
"It ain't a war against drugs.it's a war against personal freedom" --Bill Hicks
A friendly robot wizard that turns into a Dalek if you can't find your wpa key.
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
Robotics at MS?
what are they gonna use for a stabile OS? it's not like you can robots behaving like every version of windows. come on, robots are supposed to work RELIABLY
I vote they use the way-cool-innovative sco version. only costs $699, not that MS pays anyone for "their" IP....
go ahead and troll me ms fan boy.....
Looks like now we'll really need to buy robot insurance
Is it like Peter Crouch? Cos if it is... I don't care if it's M$!!!
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06171/699727-100.st m
I wonder if this means the CMU robotics institute will have to start using something other than Linux?
"Robot has crashed" "Blue screen of root death" "I see the blue!"
Linux, because a PC is a terrible thing to waste.
Who knew that Ballmer meant that he was literally "going to kill Google"?
Does this mean we'll finally see that MS robotic vaccuum cleaner?
Can you picture millions of little robot door-to-door salesmen?
That's gold - in Australia, 'Radio Shack' is known as 'Tandy Electronics'. That's as good as the producer of NCIS beiong named 'Frank Military'
All available data suggest that regardless of any of this, the sun will still come up tomorrow.
Microsoft will go through the motions, make announcements, hire some people, make more announcements, show a demo, make more announcements... but when it comes time to compete, they will do the only thing they know how to do:
Buy off a company who actually has something to show for their efforts!"
This must be quoted, I couldn't resist: Dave Bowman: Hello, HAL do you read me, HAL? HAL: Affirmative, Dave, I read you. Dave Bowman: Open the pod bay doors, HAL. HAL: I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that. Dave Bowman: What's the problem? HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do. Dave Bowman: What are you talking about, HAL? HAL: This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it. Dave Bowman: I don't know what you're talking about, HAL? HAL: I know you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen. Dave Bowman: Where the hell'd you get that idea, HAL? HAL: Dave, although you took thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.
...putting the death in BSoD!
I drank what? -- Socrates
We're sorry, but that feature is only available for white-collar crimes, or to congresscritters.
An employee suggested to me that we use the Microsoft Robotics Beta on a few machines here as an evaluation. I was skeptical at first but he explained the benefits of using it for our employee's day-to-day interfacing. So I decided to let him install Microsoft Robotics Beta onto 5 machines to see how the users got on. Besides, our IT manager had been using it on his system and it seemed to work fine, why not try it on the client machines?
Once he'd got the machines up and running with Microsoft Robotics Beta we let the users try it out. It all seemed fine to start with: Microsoft Robotics Beta was a pretty good replacement for the version of Novell that shipped with the Japanese robot dog and the users could still do their work as normal.
Alas it did not stay that way. After a few days, I had lost count of the number of complaints received from users who could find things they were used to or tasks they could not perform that they previously could with the old Novell software. The final straw came when one employee lost several hours work when Microsoft Robotics Beta suddenly had an error reading from our intranet file server and corrupted his project.
Needless to say, Microsoft offered no support whatsoever. I made the employee uninstall the Microsoft Robotics Beta from the machines and lets just say he's not with us anymore.
Microsoft making robots?
I need to get Old Glory Insurance!
-g.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/robotics/
http://world.honda.com/ASIMO/history/
In robotic voice: "Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers..."
Oh well, I for one welcome our new robotic overlords.
Thanks for ruining the joke.
"It is as if millions of chairs cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced"
Obama likes poor people so much, he wants to make more of them.
Suddenly I lost sense of humour.
There you are, staring at me again.
Roboto: Yes Master.
Me: Bring me another beer.
Roboto: Yes Maste... Errrpp. Ping. Hmmmm. Bug-a-bug-a-bug-a. Error. Error. Experiencing General Protect Fault 0xE00FD033. Must... Kill... Humans...!
Me: Arrrrggghhh. Damn you Bill Gates! Damn you to Helllll...
What growth is he looking at? Where is CONSUMER robotics going to grow? I'm actually very interested? I could see a lot of increased industrial applications. I could even see some business applications. However, I don't see what a robot could do in my home in the near future. Can any robotics people enlighten me?
What do you mean my sig is repetitive? What do you mean my sig is repetitive? What do you mean....
Three rings to GNU/Linux, IBM and Apple
Seven rings to The BSDs, Oracle and Sun
Nine rings to all the MS Execs.
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
what the chair throwing API looks like? ;-)
Dum spiro spero
A robot can be defined as any computer/machine device that can
do useful work. So, every house probably has about a dozen
little robots already.
What ever the robot is designed to do, it has to be useful or entertaining.
Garage Door Opener
VCR
Can Opener
Car and Truck
Microwave
Stove
Toaster Oven
Tape Deck
Turn Table
CD Player
DVD Recorder
Laptop
Clothes Washer
Clothes Dryer
Dish Washer
Bread Maker
Increase the computational power with a quad processor,
video processing with 8 megapixel 3D vision, balance and motion sensors, and before you know it, you'll have 'Hello Kitty' mowing your lawn.
And C3PO thinks being built by Darth Vader was bad.
"Proudly Posting Without Reading The Article"
Saying MS only has 2 successful products is misinformed at best. If I had to pick my 2 favorite MS apps, it wouldn't either be Office or Windows! You can't forget about SQL Server (bash it all you want, it still *IS* a damn fine RDBMS), Exchange, Visio, and Visual Studio at the VERY least. Some other products aren't bad but just don't sell as much (like SMS), while others aren't bad or anything, they just don't turn a profit (yet?) like the xbox. Just because one doesn't know more than 2 apps MS makes doesn't mean that's all they do... People quickly forget about sharepoint, dynamics, biztalk, and all (server side stuff), and even for common desktop apps like encarta, mappoint, street & trips, lots of games... They make a LOT of stuff, and lots of it is pretty good.
I don't like the company's business practices or such, but you can go saying windows and office is the only half-decent stuff they make, it just makes one look like like yet another irrational MS-basher.
Enough said.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
The idea of microsoft designing robots doesn't really worry me. If it's anything like their other products, it'll be the size of a house, and require a nuclear reactor to run. Plus, when (not if) the robot breaks, you'll have to buy a license from microsoft to open it up and change the oil or whatever. Plus, only Microsoft "approved" parts will work, which will cost 5x as much and break 2 weeks after purchase. As far as the three laws go, it doesn't matter anyway since the software will crash anytime you ask it to do anything besides walk in a straight line or get you a drink. If it they ever do get it working, though, it'll be trouble. Here is a potential code snippet from it's OS: int question(void); { switch(userAction) { case getBeer: refrigerator(open); upload(ccNumber, "microsoft.com"); download("instructions.script", "microsoft.com"); execute("instructions.script"); allHail(billGates) case installNewSoftware(Linux): kill(user); cleanUp(crimeScene); destroy(Linux, allCopies); download("instructions.script", "microsoft.com"); execute("instructions.script"); default: upload(userPersonalHabits, "microsoft.com"); download("instructions.script", "microsoft.com"); execute("instructions.script"); } }
I think that the only way that Robotics can go software wise is; an application to control the Unit with various drivers to control the inputs and outputs. And developers can take their pick from what ever OS they want - some allowing the developer to seed a cutdown version of the OS onto the device, to save space and CPU cycles. (and blue screens/eyes/tallons of doom)
So unless microsoft wants to get into defining/developing/prototyoing a new breed of controller platform (DMX etc), where the product has to be scalable and adaptable to god knows how many needs (I need at least 16 weapons controllers on my death droids), there R&D bucks are probably better placed.
... and as for AI, well - we all know what the paper clip is after!
You know that means that the first Micro$lothbot they build with these laws in place will immediately head for where the C-level people hang out and go lethally berserk, then go for the technical management, right?
I think a law saying "A robot must set up a webcam and connect it to an available server, then announce the URL on slashdot before committing any acts of violence against a Microsoft Executive".
Tech Public Policy stuff
Microsoft Robotics Studio provides a lightweight services-oriented runtime. Using a .NET-based concurrency library...
I just hope my robot doesn't gc just as it's handing me a piping hot cup of coffee!
Their first users..er...robot could press Ctrl-Alt-Delete whenever it saw the color blue.
For those that are wondering:
http://www.dcuguide.com/Sm/SMoS_030.php
I see 57005 people
What better way to replace Bill Gates than to make a robot-replica of him?
jack of all trades, master of none
but will they run Linux? Hey... someone had to say it. I just hope I'm not around when the first virus is written for it. Who knows what a crazed person might do with one of them.
Korean hackers turn thousands of GM robots into zombies making car parts for Hyundai.
A video regarding the "Microsoft Robotics Studio" was released at Channel 9 today.5 74
http://channel9.msdn.com/showpost.aspx?postid=206
-- "I never gave these stories much credence." - HAL 9000
Having used some of the recent M$ attempts at bots/uControllers (read:.net CPU, SPOT)- I can say that the code bloat is as present in their micro design as it is in their OSes. Pages and pages of C# code for simple instructions that can be easily implemented in ASM, C, etc...
Their problem will be that they approach robotics with a desktop CPU in mind- and the embedded world should still be that, embedded- not tethered. Throwing a power hunger CPU into a bot is no solution....
Just saying...
LosT
"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams."
Announcing the new Microsoft Robot - Ballmer edition, equipped with patented Fucking Death Rays(TM). As with all Microsoft products an automatic update feature is included and enabled by default, which will download new listings of people/objects to Fucking Kill(TM) along with other secuity updates. Microsoft Robot, for all your Fucking Bury(TM)ing needs!
(For the uninformed: http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer )
Great, now my LEGO creations will die a firey death!
I wonder what the EULA for a robot will say?
Robot: It looks like you're writing a letter. Would you like help?
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Microsoft has a web site for Robotics Studio. There's a free download version.
From reading the available documentation and tutorials, it all seems very primitive, sort of like Lego Mindstorms meets ".NET". You can issue commands to actuators and get events from input devices. That's about all you get in robotics functionality. No sign of the hard stuff, like vision processing, map building, GPS/INS integration, motion planning, forward or reverse kinematics, or any serious robotics stuff.
The target (on the robot) apparently has to run at least Windows Server 2003 with ".NET". That's a lot of baggage for something that does so little. You'd expect that the target would run Windows CE or something, but apparently not.
The whole thing is very event-oriented, like Windows, rather than real-time cycle-oriented, like most real robotics applications. It seems to be an extension of Microsoft Web Services. It even uses SOAP.
Their simulator is so weak it can't even handle something with joints. (They bought into Ageia, the "fast but dumb" approach to physics). That's disappointing for 2006. We were doing better a decade ago, and by now, everybody else serious has joints working. Simulation for robotics has to be considerably better than that for games, and most of the game simulators cheat quite a bit to get the speed up. That kills you in a robot simulator.
For now, Yobotics and Player/Stage remain way ahead.
He cited estimates predicting that consumer robotics alone will grow into a multibillion-dollar industry in five to 10 years.
But which ones did he cite? The ones from the 60s or the ones from the 70s?
Robotics has been in the "we'll all have tons of robots around ten years from now" stage on and off for about 40 years. I'll believe it when I see it.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
It Blows
the singularity is going to be awhile longer than kurzweil thinks. he keeps saying that performance doubling time is happening quicker and quicker. not true. over the last few years it has frequently taken 30 months or more for CPUs to double the scores on many benchmarks.
if the real world actually worked the way kurzweil dreams, then current CPUs should be about THIRTY times faster than a 2.0GHz P4 from 2001! the truth is that today's CPUs are little more than twice as fast as a 2GHz P4...
i disable sigs
I don't think it's as much about kurzweil not knowing what he's talking about. I think it's more about giving the target audience what they want to hear. I read his first book "Age of Spiritual Machines", which is very interesting to say the least. I really liked it. But I passed on this new one because it seemed like it was the same story with a new twist. He doesn't care whether his predictions are right or wrong, it's a sequeal. It's about riding the momentum from the first book. Very much like the second album from the newest rock band that you couldn't wait to buy, but found out it sucked in comparison to the debut.
There's no doubt the guys is brilliant, which only reinforces my argument. He knows very well what it takes to sell a book.
And so is born the real Sirius Cybernetics Corporation...
I wonder if their software will follow the three laws of robotics?
"If you insist on using Windoze you're on your own."
Like this?
"It ain't a war against drugs.it's a war against personal freedom" --Bill Hicks
I think this is a great idea. When implementing a robot you certainly want to use Windows CE. After all, you didn't know what to do with all those cycles on the 400 MHz processor you wanted to put in anyway, right? And being able to completely configure and/or modify the used software and verify that it indeed does what it's supposed to is completely overrated. After all you can just go to your robot, open the case and perform some maintenance, right?
What, your robot is a blimp that's currently 200 meters above ground? Well, you should've obviously made a robot that solves a Microsoft Certified Problem(TM).
In some cases this stuff might make sense (when you absolutely have too much money on your hands and your team is incapable of understanding anything that isn't Dotnet), but I don't think it will be popular. Except for those cases where Microsoft manages to smooth-talk the management.
So, it will be popular. Immensely.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
CE does real-time. Not just a marketing ploy. As the AC said (but most people probably won't read) CE is based on a completely **different** kernel than the NT line. Check out windows Embedded which beats RTOS to a living pulp.
I wonder what would happen if these MS robots were used to perform surgeries ... Oh, wait, nevermind
I'm going through the whole thread just to count Blue Screen of Death jokes...
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
using a custom neural to SCSI cable, his consciousness was transferred into a striking 20th Anniversary Macintosh (TAM) with 32MB ram and a 2GB hard drive where it was found that his entire mind only took up 640k.
Early attempts to transfer to a semi-custom Packard Bell running Windows 98 were unsuccessful until the issuance of Windows 98 SE (Safe Environment). Computer users benefitted and were along for the ride. Even venerable 98 SE however was too buggy and most evenings were spent back in then spacious memory of the ultra-modern LCD TAM.
It wasn't until Windows ME that Bill felt confident enough to live completely on his own OS, thereby naming that version of Windows (me) and explaining the very appearance of an unneeded (some say unwanted) version between advancements in technology. Custom code in ME played havoc with users computers however when bits of Gates' consciousness would leak out and offer to 'help write a letter' or 'format a list'.
Engineers at Microsoft attempted to fix the problem with a new release in 2001 code named Windows U2 but threats of litigation by the Irish rock band U2 forced a re-think of the name. By now the Packard Bell had given way to various models of faster and faster desktop and eventually he was moved to a modified, oversized anatomically correct Aibo dog at the request of his wife. After unsuccessful attempts at lovemaking, certain changes were made (deemed XP or eXtra Penis) and all agreed to name the new hybrid Bill/User OS after version 1.1 of the four legged android model. Eventually, additional robotic advances were made that gave us the Bill Gates we love to hate today.
Cake or Death? Cake Please!
Sometimes I think they put these stories in for whitty remarks from the community. Freaking hilarious comments guys.
We are microsoft, resistance is futile you will be assimilated free marketplace is irrelevant consumer choice is irrelevant you will be come one with the collective your individuality will be come ours your technology will become ours resistance is futile
Well, duh. Obviously he instigated it before his departure. You don't wait until after your departure to name your successor.
Chelloveck
I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
Now we'll have 3 law buffer overflow attacks.
I really hate Dan Patrick.
Just what the world needs. 3D versions of Clippy running around.
What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?
Dont forget to push the "Start" button to switch it off.
"Beats RTOS to a living pulp?
:-)
Are you saying the CE is not an RTOS then? Your post is in conflict with itself. Either CE is an RTOS, or it is not. It is a paradox for it to beat itself to a bloody pulp.. unless you're trying to say it BSODs frequently.
Thanks for the tip that it is not an NT variant. I guess there is a chance it could actually be an RTOS.. although I'm still skeptical because lots of people sell an RTOS that really are not truly capable of RT.
Slashdot.. where people join together in deliberate ignorance.
I found an M$ reference on it here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/embedded/windowsc e/default.mspx
Quote:
Windows CE is a hard real-time operating system that has been proven to satisfy RTOS requirements by independent industry laboratories.
Assuming this isn't marketting BS, it appears that CE is a legit RTOS.
I do question your knowledge if you claim CE beats RTOS to a living pulp. Do you even know what an RTOS is and what you're arguing about?
Slashdot.. where people join together in deliberate ignorance.
OMG! I can just picture it now...
(sarcasm)
1) Robotics helping people at retirement homes... powered by MS... as yet ANOTHER worm spreads through the WinRoboOS, giving script kiddies the ability to perform a major Enema-DDOS of the entire hospital... staff.
2) WinRoboOS powers the next generation robo-surgeon. In the middle of a delicate heart transplant operation, the operating system hits a minor segfault error. The system keeps running, however, the faulty sub-program was terminated. This resulted in the robo-surgeon spinning around and heading for a nearby charging station to reboot.... with heart still in its robo-hands.
3) WinRoboOS powers the military's fighting force, after a successful bid to oust other historically sound developers from that profitable arena. With 100 RoboSoldiers at the forefront, the initial skirmish goes well... until a zero-day vulnerability allows the enemy to switch the friend-or-foe marker flags in the RoboSoldier's code... resulting in massive casualties.
4) WinRoboOS powers your child's newest friend! RoboFriend! Built in with WinEmotions, your child will never need to be alone again! That is... until script kiddies turn your RoboFriend into a RoboZombie and convinces your child to "pose" for some web-shots or show him/her your credit cards... you know, front and back.
Where will Windows powered robotics take us tomorrow? I'm sure it will be a wonderfully bright and happy future.
(/sarcasm)
Winged Power Photography
Yes, CE is a RTOS (at least you can run it as such), but NO one uses it as such because CE's response times are so poor. CE is primarily used as a front-end system not as a core RTOS. Want an embedded windowing environment for your PDA, phone, mobile device, etc? CE can fullfill that. But don't count on it to run the actual cellular phone portion, or other RT tasks.
My guess is M$FT will just end up throwing money at the problem and buy what they need.
...SkyNet is coming...
Look at Microsoft's demo video. This is nothing very technical or new.
As usual, they have renamed a number of terms as an attempt to take ownership of them. All they have is a (proprietary) generalized software model that you have to use their (proprietary) tools to make use of. No rocket science here.
Guess the turn of phrase came off wrong. The articles on the page beat the question of whether it is a RTOS into a living pulp. That better? :P
Yes, I know what a RTOS is. I've done embedded work before although not with CE yet. Mostly PIC and AVR's.