Talking Robots: Tandy Trower

[RoboGuy]

Ever since thisScientific American article we know that Microsoft has big plans forrobotics - seeing the 80s PC industry mirrored in today's roboticsindustry. The latest Talking Robotsepisode interviews TandyTrower, who has led his small team of 12 to develop the Microsoft Robotics Studioin less than two years. Launched in 2006,Microsoft's move into robotics has stayed true to the well-honed MSstrategy of not releasing source code of key components and of patentingtechnology. As Tandy will tell you, MS does provide what they call an "open softwarepromise", which basically amounts to a free license of the software,making it easy to distribute - a vital step in gaining a large user base. According to Tandy, the key to success is "accessibility of technology"- and I tend to agree. With an incredibly diverse field like robotics,spanning kid's toys to care-takers for the elderly and small-budgetgimmicks to multi-million industrial machines, the user base can andshould, but must be able to drive the development. Tandy hopes to unitethis large and diverse user-base and enable it. He wants to catalyze therobotic revolution that - let's face it - we all know will happen.Microsoft as a key player in robotics - long awaited savior of worstnightmare? Listen to Tandy andjudge for yourself.

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