Microsoft has announced an experimental release of Robot OS for Windows 10 Enterprise users. Robot OS or ROS with features like Machine Learning, Internet of Things (IoT), cloud services and computer vision. The announcement comes as part of the “ROSCon 2018” that is being held in Madrid, Spain.
The integrated version of Robot OS on Windows 10 is called ROS1 and currently integrates seamlessly with Visual Studio. It contains the tools and libraries that will enable developers to build complex robots
ROS is expected to innovate the robotics, connected machines and complex machinery for manufacturing. It acts as middleware and provides low-level device control and other services The new software will be used in robotic devices, such as those used in factories for manufacturing, and for consumer products, such as automated floor vacuums.
Microsoft also demonstrated a “ROBOTIS Turtlebot 3” robot that recognizes and steers towards the person closest to it and runs on the “Windows 10 IoT Enterprise” solution.
“The robot runs Windows 10 IoT Enterprise on an Intel Coffee Lake NUC using a new ROS node which leverages hardware accelerated Windows Machine Learning,” explained the company on its ros-win page.
As it is still experimental, Microsoft will continue to improve it. Microsoft also said that the company is working with Open Robotics and ROS Industrial Consortium to expand and improve the ROS manufacturing process with the goal of boosting efficiency.
