The Microsoft Robotics group has released the R2 version of Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 (RDS 2008).

They have also launched a brand new website at www.microsoft.com/robotics (which you won't be able to see correctly unless you have Silverlight installed).

There is also a new introductory video of RDS 2008 R2 available at Channel 9.

New tutorial videos on Robotics Developer Studio 2008 R2 are also available in a new youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/msrobotics.

New features include:

Software Quality Metrics

One of the new features of RDS is Software Quality Metrics (SQM). This is a tool that is used in many Microsoft products to monitor usage patterns and send the data back to Microsoft. The data is then used for planning and the development of new product features. No personal details are sent to Microsoft.You can elect to participate in the SQM program during installation and we encourage you to do so. If you change your mind at a later date, there is an Update and Feedback Options item in the Start Menu that allows you to opt in or out at any time.Also as part of this feedback program you can request that RDS tools like VPL, DSSME, etc. check for a new version of RDS whenever they are started. This is also optional, but we suggest that you select it during installation too.

DSS Log Analyzer

The DSS Log Analyzer originally appeared in a Community Technology Preview. It is now available in RDS 2008 R2 (all Editions).The Log Analyzer shows you graphically the message traffic between services in the Services View. It can be used filter the messages, and zoom in on particular message in the Time Line View to examine its contents. Temporal relationships between messages are clearly shown in the Causality View. The screeshots below show the overall traffic flow as well as the Time Line and Causality views. DSS Log Analyzer

Visual Simulation Environment

A number of new simulated sensors have been added to the simulation environment. These provide services that were commonly requested in the Discussion Forums. They include:

SONAR
Light (Brightness)
Color
Compass
Infrared Range
GPS

In addition, this release contains a completely new set of Simulation Tutorials that illustrate how to use the new simulated sensors and also how to place multiple robots into the simulation environment simultaneously. A rudimentary robot, without a 3D mesh, is used to show the basic principles of simulation. The robot can be placed into rich scenes such as the Apartment model. The following screenshot shows the robot and another window with readings from some of the new sensors. This tutorial also shows how to do some basic image processing on webcam video data, in this case applying an edge detector.

Simulated Sensors