ROBOT WARS are about to start in earnest. But forget the TV show and its remote-controlled chainsaws. This battle is over who gets to control the software that drives real, autonomous robots, and become the Microsoft of the robotics revolution.
Late this year, Californian company Evolution Robotics (ERI) plans to release an operating system that it claims will do for robotics what Microsoft did for the personal computer with DOS and Windows. The idea has two aims: to slash the time and cost involved in developing new robots, and to let people who buy robotic lawnmowers, beer gophers or vacuum…
