Deliver Next-Generation SOA Apps with Microsoft Robotics Development Studio

he software development world has evolved quite a bit over the last 20 odd years. We went from object-oriented development to component-oriented development and now to service-oriented development. Each step along the way, the current programming methodology has borrowed useful ideas from its predecessor and tried to improve upon the technology. Service-oriented development seeks to decouple applications while still providing a robust, secure, and maintainable architecture.

In 2006, Microsoft quietly introduced a new product named Microsoft Robotics Studio (MSRS). MSRS, which has since been renamed to Microsoft Robotics Development Studio (MRDS) offers a service-oriented runtime along with tools that allow developers to build robotic applications. What most people have missed is that MRDS is more than just a tool for nerds that want to build their own R2-D2. MRDS utilizes components that will become mainstream in the next generation of service-oriented applications. This includes Decentralized Software Services (DSS) and Concurrency and Coordination Runtime (CCR)—key components of the MRDS runtime.