ZMP of Japan began selling a two-legged walking robot Thursday that runs on Microsoft's new robotics software — a product the companies said will make it easier to transfer technology from one robot to another.
U.S. software maker Microsoft Corp. is a relative latecomer to robotics. Microsoft Robotics Studio, a package of software especially made to program movements and other applications for robots, went on sale last December.
Up to now, robots have tended to run on different kinds of software, although open-source robotics platforms already exist.
In a demonstration Thursday, a Microsoft Xbox 360 remote controller was used to get the 35-cm-tall, 2.5 kg, ¥588,000 e-nuvo WALK, developed by ZMP Inc., to take a few steps, lift a leg and kick a small plastic ball.
The robot, which has six motors in each leg and a boxlike headless torso, is available by Internet order only. Orders are limited to Japan so far, although the robot will work overseas. Shipments are expected in January.
The collaboration with the major Japanese robot maker reflects Microsoft's recent foray into robotics, which company founder Bill Gates has said is the next hot field in technology.
Tandy Trower, a Microsoft general manager overseeing robotics, said he foresees a day in which robots will be in every home — just as in the 1970s, Gates started out with his vision that a PC would prove a valuable tool in every home.
"This really isn't about Microsoft trying to create any kind of an exclusive solution," Trower said. "We think that this is the natural evolution of the PC technology, that PCs will start to get up from our desk and move around and interact with us in a richer way."
Microsoft Robotics Studio is free for noncommercial use, and there have already been some 150,000 downloads.
