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 really couldn't help myself

[udderly]

I for one welcome our new BSoD robot overlords.

Oh no...

[gentlemen_loser]

And to think I had thought this would all start with Skynet...

Does it run on Linux?

[filesiteguy]

I just wanted to be the first to ask that... ..mod me down... ..I don't mind.

Obligatory futurama..

[plasmacutter]

Are the robots shaped like lucee liu?

Gate's Laws of Robotics

[Freed]

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.

So what happens...

[Non-CleverNickName]

...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...

Coin Melter

[coldtone]

Time to build my coin melting robot!

Re:Oh no...

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Not Skynet but Dotnet.

Re:Linux robot

[Anonymous Coward]

...Actualy there are now running multible sub versions all over the place and they all only listen to typed commands and none of them knows what actualy rules the world, so they started fighting each other...

Am I the only one that thinks this was a markov-chain generated post? I can't really follow it. Damn robots, posting on /. now.

Re:Obligatory...

[TranscendentalAnarch]

Public Function BSoD(ByVal error As Exception)
    Dim Chair As New Exception = error
    Throw Chair
End Function

In related news...

[mjtg]

... Microsoft has informed the SEC of its intentions to change its name to the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation [wikipedia.org].

Re:I really couldn't help myself

[rastyk]

"I tried to get it to make coffee, but instead it punched my cat!"

Re:Does it run on Linux?

[Anonymous Coward]

It runs on SuSE Linux (only).

On the topic of old Internet jokes

[Merusdraconis]

I actually tried out this software - it gathers an incredible amount of data about the surrounding environment, then discards it and drives into walls.

Re:Looks like somebody

[Sj0]

Guess what my day [cmu.edu] job [google.com] is [post-gazette.com]?

Making 12 year olds cry on Slashdot?