Microsoft Robotics group?

Wow, did you know that Microsoft has a robotics group?  I just noticed that they released a Microsoft Robotics Studio.  I am downloading this technical preview now to check it out.  This to me is a huge leap for the robotics industry.  Putting the power of Microsoft development tools to build robotic applications is a win win solution.  I finally can merge my two passions of software development with Microsoft technologies and building robots!  I am very excited about this project.  Make sure you check out the Channel 9 video about the group.  Keep an eye open for your favorite robot somewhere in the background of the video.

Some projects the group is working on.

• Live.com gadgets to control a robot.

Key features of the platform

• Concurrency and Coordination Runtime (CCR) - An asynchronous messaging library that makes managing state changes easy to the developer.
• Robotic remote control via a web browser
• Scripting robotic commands via jscript to create complex robot movements
• Multiple hardware platforms.  Currently supporting Lego Mindstorms (RSX and NXT) and fischertechnik.
• Support for 8, 16 and 32 bit processors
• Separating state from behavior
• DSS - A services layer
  • Support for service contract programming where multiple input or output devices can be used by simply altering what device is bound to the contract.  Example:  A contract could be established that controls the robots movement.  A keyboard device could be bound to the contract to provide the input that moves the robot.  Or a joystick device could be bound to the contract to provide the input to move the robot.  The point here is that support is in place for a pluggable architecture or re-usable components.
• Subscribe publish model that allows for a lot of autonomous agents to react to state changes.  This promotes a decoupled environment.  You can create a published event like bumper touched and later build a component that subscribes to that event and reacts to it.  There can be multiple subscribers to the event. 
• Model simulation - You can model your environment and run your software without any hardware.
• Since the applications are service based you could distribute services across multiple machines. 
  • Example if I create a service that monitors my door bell and expose the service to the public you could subscribe to my service and perform some action when my door bell is rung.

Well I could go on and on about this new platform but I want to get started on using it.  I will first go through the tutorials to gain an understanding of how it works.  Luckly I have a Lego Mindstorms RSX kit.  After the tutorials are complete I will try extending the services to support a BX24 bassed hardware device.