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Microsoft Formally Releases Robotics Software
futuresheet writes "Microsoft formally released its robotics software yesterday, giving would-be robot builders a new tool to make them do the things they do. The license for the software is $399, and the 'standard' Pioneer P3DX robot that's made for home use is $40,000. Just the same, if you want to give it a try, it is downloadable for free for non-commercial use, and includes a simulator to try things out on your computer." From the article: "It represents a new effort for the company that has Chairman Bill Gates raving about potential growth in a robotics industry that's already worth an estimated $11 billion a year or more. '[A]s I look at the trends that are now starting to converge, I can envision a future in which robotic devices will become a nearly ubiquitous part of our day-to-day lives,' Gates writes in the January issue of Scientific American. Microsoft is not making robots. Its Robotics Studio is software designed to program the devices to collect data from an array of sensors and perform all manner of functions."
I for one welcome our new BSoD robot overlords.
And to think I had thought this would all start with Skynet...
.. making robot software easyier to use, and free for non commercial use , with emulator, is a pretty damn good thing.
I look forwrd to going home and downloading this.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I just wanted to be the first to ask that... ..mod me down... ..I don't mind.
The Kai's Semi-Updated Website Thingy
Gate's Laws of Robotics (shamelessly stolen from a past /. post)
1) A robot may not use a non-Microsoft product or through inaction,
allow a human being to use a non-Microsoft product.
2) A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such
orders would conflict with the First Law.
3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection
does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
...when you complete your 50m tall Gundam, complete the programming with Robotics Studio, and on the 30th day, you realize that you forgot to activate it using a Genuine MS key...
The last thing I need is a 50m mobile suit pissed at me for pirating software...
This is my signature. There are many like it but this one is mine.
What on earth is going to be in the kit that is worth $40,000?? That's insane. You can get a Programmable Logic Controller (Omron or Allen Bradley), several industrial grade servomotors or stepper motors, the motor drive unit, and a pile of sensors/buttons/actuators/etc off ebay for around $2000.
In 1991 I worked for a company that did industrial automation fabrication and build this relatively large (Around 40x30 feet of machinery) automated cutting/welding system with two MIG welders (One mounted on a track to adjust for different sizes, anywhere from 40 feet to 4 feet and accurate to 1/100th of an inch), and all the raw material handlers to feed parts into the welders, and we had MAYBE $50,000 in hardware costs.
Even a hard core GE/Fanuc industrial grade CNC control head is no more than $25,000. This thing had better have the capabilities of R2D2.
Sounds like a complete ripoff.
And every automation control system I've used, PLC or CNC, has had the development software free with the unit. Only thing you'd have to pay for was the programming console, which has since been reduced to software that runs on Windows, so needing only a serial or USB cable between the two.
Do I sound really shocked by the price? I am!
Public Function BSoD(ByVal error As Exception)
Dim Chair As New Exception = error
Throw Chair
End Function
... Microsoft has informed the SEC of its intentions to change its name to the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation.
I actually tried out this software - it gathers an incredible amount of data about the surrounding environment, then discards it and drives into walls.
1) As far as I can tell, Player/Stage/Gazebo is limited to flat earth. (MSRS is not, arbitrary terrain)
.NET framework there is a wealth of functionality: mathematics functions, quaternions, etc.
Yes it does. First two hits when you google "gazebo terrain".
2) Part of the
2b) Loss of portability to other operating systems.
This is not something to be overlooked, given the prevalence of Linux for headless embedded devices (i.e. robots). If you like object-oriented development, Player has bindings for C++, Java, Ruby, and Python.
Especially when you are simulating discrete objects. The ability to have TableObject *table and Robot *robot, instead of a bunch of c-calls, is a blessing and speeds up your development time.
Well, if you want to argue the simulator sucks, then I won't necessarily disagree with you. That's not the interface a robot *user* would be dealing with however, only the creator of a custom robot. A C++ interface for the robot "driver" would be nice, but I can understand the portability reasons for choosing plain C. In my graduate-level course on physical simulation, I did use C++ for my simulator. I don't think it was a huge advantage however, since everything was implemented as a large system of ODEs anyway, and the object oriented view was just translating to and from that (following the Baraff/Witkin approach).
(I know, this is my day job)
Guess what my day job is?
This is also why a lot of people choose DirectX over OpenGL.
It seems to me that the only people who prefer DirectX are game programmers. Scientific/visualization/engineering apps are still largely OpenGL. This is partly due to inertia, of course, but I'm sure they appreciate the portability too, since important scientific and engineering apps tend to work on more than one OS.