Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio (MRDS) is a development platform for the robotics community, supporting a wide variety of users, hardware, and application scenarios.  MRDS is not a tool to program code that executes directly on the microcontroller of a robot.  Instead, researchers and scientists can use MRDS to develop a user friendly graphical interactive programming interface and virtual environment for their own robots. Students without programming experience can then use the programming interface and virtual environment developed to program and control both real and virtual robots.  The high resolution visual simulation environment that integrates 3D software physics supplied by the Ageia Technologies PysX engine let students have an actual virtual 3D or CoSpace experience.

The virtual robot and the user friendly interactive programming interface – the Virtual Simulator Software for CoSpace Rescue, CSR-Rescue, is developed by the Advanced Robotics and Intelligent Control Centre (ARICC), a Technology & Innovation Centre in Singapore Polytechnic. This educational package is powered by Microsoft® Robotics Developer Studio. It gives users an opportunity to work with both virtual and real robots. The CSR-Rescue platform provides a venue for users to understand the physical structure, sensors, motors, and the programming of a robot. Students will be able to program a robot to perform its mission in both real and virtual environment using this educational package.

The CoSpace Robot Rescue offers hands on technological experience to motivate young minds to learn and share knowledge with fellow participants. It also helps in the social and emotional development of the students as they work together in groups and build inter-personal skills required for their successful future in the real world.