Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio allows the development of robotics tools and programs. Microsoft targets academic and commercial developers. Current version includes Kinect Sensor Support for utilizing XBOX Kinect. If you are not an advanced user and would like to try an easier app, you can download LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT for your first steps in programming robotics.

What is inside the package

This program allows you to create and develop robotics with unique features. The tool includes the following components:

Visual Simulation Environment;
Visual Programming Language;
Decentralized Software Services;
Concurrency and Coordination Runtime;
samples, tutorials and documentation.

There is a Reference Platform concept introduced in the current release. This document is available for free and can be used as the basis for real robots. The main programming language for the environment is C#.

Kinect Sensor Support

The program can work with the Kinect Sensor. Both real and simulated Kinect sensors are supported. To install this feature it is necessary to first obtain Visual Studio 2010 with C#, Silverlight 4.0 SDK and Kinect for Windows SDK V1.

Please note that this software is discontinued and is no longer supported.

Features

specialized environment for robotics development;
3D simulation, including hardware acceleration;
works with all modern versions of Windows;
free to download and use;
has extensive tutorials and documentation;
compatible with Kinect Sensor.