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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."
Since Sony killed their robotics division.
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
Not me. Most I know of are controlled using prepriety systems. Such as PLCs.
Slashdot.. where people join together in deliberate ignorance.
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.
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"
And thus, the great robot wars begun.
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?
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.
Microsoft will eventually lose their OS and Office monopolies. They'll fight it tooth and nail, but it's inevitable. I'm not 100% sure what will eventually topple them, but Linux and OpenOffice are my bets. There's just too much momentum behind both. 5 years ago, Linux on a tech resume was rare. These days, I'd say 80% of tech resumes I see have that skill. Also, OO 2.0 is a quantum leap from OO 1.x in terms of reliability and speed. Mix in a strong anti-MS sentiment outside of the US, and increasing 3rd party app support, and you've got all the elements of a downfall in the making.
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws-Plato
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??
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.
Sorry, but I simply don't believe we're 5 to 10 years away from robotics being a "multibillion dollar industry".
Then you'd be wrong -- just as wrong as the naysayers were in 1995 when they proclaimed "this Internet thing is just a fad", because they hadn't internalized how exponential progress works in ALL evolutionary systems, and then projected forward based on the doubling rate of nodes being added to the net. And yes, past performance IS very indicative of future performance when it comes to evolutionary progress (not markets); tons of evidence backs this up.
Robotics, AI, molecular manufacturing (nanotech), and performance per $, is accelerating, and these advances will continue to arrive much sooner than you think. If you simply project into the future by going on your "gut feelings" then you're stuck in a insanely-conservative intuitively linear view (that luddites also happen to more comfortable with).
Power to the Peaceful