It is one of the rare times when my home and work life seem to be in perfect alignment. I have recently started working with the team focused on robotics. The Microsoft Robotics Group has just released Microsoft Robotics Studio (1.0) for Web download (see press release). Microsoft Robotics Studio is a Windows-based environment for academic, hobbyist and commercial developers to easily create robotics applications across a wide variety of hardware. The download installs Microsoft Robotics Studio along with samples and tutorials.

This also happens to directly correspond to my holiday purchasing for my children. My youngest (6) wants the Tekno Puppy dog (my slippers should be safe) and my oldest (10) wants RoboSapien V2 (I am hoping it can help him clean his room). Both have had interest in robotics starting with URV (Rescue Heroes’ Ultimate Robotic Vehicle) and the Lego’s Mindstorms. I should probably just go for the holiday trifecta and buy my wife iRobot’s Roomba.

There seems to be lots of buzz happening in Robotics from toys to military applications (and everything in between). I see a lot of similarities to the early PC days … lots of hobbyist, interest in the academic community (our local high school has a robotics club … I know this only because I went to a football game and saw them use the robotic tee-shirt launcher at half time) and very specific/niche applications. I am also hearing references to a robot in every home (similar to the PC on every desk). Some of us remember Rosie from the Jetsons!

Bottom line, there is opportunity here. If you are an entrepreneur focused in the robotics space or a VC investing (or looking to invest) in the robotics space, I would like to hear from you and discuss ways we can work together to bring this into the mainstream.