It might seem a little out off character for Microsoft to be working on robotics software, but for decades the company has wanted to be the supplier of operating systems for systems ranging from personal computers and handheld devices to game consoles and coffeetables—why would robots be any exception? Toward the end of 2006, Microsoft unveiled the first version of its Robotics Studio development environment; today Microsoft announced version 1.5 of its Robotics Studio development kit, adding support for Windows CE and WIndows Mobile 6 to let developers more easily build robotics applications for a wider variety of platforms.
“We’re constantly seeking ways to improve the product through new features and provide a catalyst to academic, hobbyist and commercial segments,” said Tandy Trower, general manager of the Microsoft Robotics Group at Microsoft, in a release.
Robotics Studio 1.5 adds refinements to the environment’s visual programming language and Ageia-physics-enabled 3-D simulation environment. The new release also adds support for speech and vision recognition, a new editor, and expanded documentation.
Microsoft reports that its robotics platform has been adopted by a growing number of academic institutions, including Princeton University, the University of Texas, the University of Washington Biorobotics Lab, and the University of California, Merced, for a wide variety of research and development applications. Commercial enterprises are also taking an interest in Microsoft Robotics Studio in areas of mapping, localization, vision, and learning.
In 1950, Alan Turing asked whether machines can think. Rather than argue over definitions, he turned the question into a party game, where an interrogator trades typed messages with hidden players and tries to work out who is who. Since then, chatbots have gotten so good that they have already fooled humans in modern versions of the test.
So, four researchers from Paris Cité University asked the obvious follow-up question in a new study published in Computers in Human Behavior Reports: can AI at least catch its own kind?
Mozilla is giving Firefox’s Smart Window two new tricks. If you haven’t tried it yet, Smart Window is an optional AI mode in Firefox with a built-in chat that helps you get things done while you browse. With this update, it can fill out online forms using details from your tabs and keep an eye on websites for you.
Tired of typing the same details into every form?
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.