Mr. Future

Japanese robotics company Tmsuk has formed an alliance with Microsoft to bring Microsoft Robotics Studio extensions to their range of consumer and commercial robots.

Tmsuk is probably best known for their Banryu ( Guard Dragon ) security robot, though they build everything from giant robot rescue machines to electric baby-sitters.

If nothing else, the partnership deeply underscores the advantages of having common development libraries for robotics projects.

Yoichi Takamoto, the Tmsuk president, said: “Right now, we cannot adopt one technology used in robot A to robot B. If Microsoft software comes to be used by many developers, then technological advances in robotics will dramatically accelerate.”

Microsoft is not alone in building common robotics development environments and code libraries. Later this week, we’ll be taking a look at some of the open-source alternatives to Microsoft Robotics Studio.

Link - to the Times Online coverage.
(via Artificial Intelligence and Robotics)