| Microsoft showcases research initiatives |
Sep. 23, 2004
Microsoft showcased a number of innovations under development by scientists in its global research labs and with partners throughout Europe, at an Innovation Fair it hosted today in Bussels. Highlighted projects included an easy-to-learn graphical programming language for robotics that enables controlling robots with a smartphone, mobile hot spot technology claimed to provide better high-speed connectivity "anytime, anywhere," by dynamically combining the power from multiple wireless devices, and several other projects.
Visual Robot Development Kit
Researchers from the Berlin University of Technology and Microsoft Research Cambridge demonstrated the Visual Robot Development Kit (VRDK), a graphical programming language that is claimed to make the development of robotic applications easy enough to teach in school. VRDK, which features a simple graphical editor that can be used with a mouse and keyboard or Tablet PC, is expected to inspire future engineers by enabling them to program "toy" robots to perform simple tasks, and then control the robots using a PC or Windows Mobile-based Smartphone.
Mobile hot spot technology
Cambridge researchers also demonstrated mobile hot spot technology that is said to enable better Internet connectivity by combining multiple wireless technologies. Laptop PCs, mobile phones, and PDAs often support a number of wireless standards such as Wi-Fi and GPRS, but the bandwidth of individual devices is often insufficient to provide quality high-speed access. The researchers showed how an ad hoc combination of the resources of multiple devices (such as a conference room full of mobile phones) can provide better access to data in remote locations.
Other innovations showcased at the event included: - i2i -- a computer-vision-based system that uses smart framing, 3-D animated emoticons and background processing to enhance remote communication such as a webcam-based live chat.
- ZCast -- a wireless data broadcast system that delivers high-quality, interactive audio and video to PCs and mobile devices.
- Advanced network technologies -- technologies that can automatically diagnose problems, graphically communicate status, and help improve connectivity for home and small-office users as well as large enterprises.
- Tamper-resistant biometric ID card system -- the system can provide a low cost, easily deployable, cryptographically secure ID card.
Microsoft's research group conducts both basic and applied research in computer science and software engineering. The group's stated goal is to develop new technologies that "simplify and enhance the user's computing experience," reduce the cost of writing and maintaining software, and facilitate the creation of new types of software. Researchers in five labs on three continents collaborate with leading academic, government, and industry researchers on technology in such areas as speech recognition, user-interface research, programming tools and methodologies, operating systems and networking, graphics, natural language processing, and mathematical sciences, Microsoft says.
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