Bettering Our Worlds, or BOW, this week invited robotics developers to register for a limited number of its new software development kits. The company plans to launch them more widely this summer.
BOW, formerly known as Cyberselves, is giving robotics developers until March 5 to register for a year of free access to its software development kits (SDKs). The software is designed to simplify programming, enable local and remote virtual reality immersive control, and input actions without having to code a robot from scratch, said the company.
SDK enables global telepresence
Currently, developers must create an individual program for each robot, even if they want to use the same function on a different robot or if the robot is upgraded by the manufacturer, according to Sheffield, U.K.-based BOW. This is time-consuming and expensive, and it is a significant barrier to adoption, noted the company.
BOW described its flagship software as the “Android of robotics”—a single platform that allows different programs to be run on every different kind of robot.
“The BOW SDK does for robotics what Windows did for the personal computer or what Android did for the smartphone,” said Daniel Camilleri, founder and CEO of BOW. “We are enabling robot applications to be coded once and deployed to, and on, any robot. This capability, taken for granted with other technologies, is bizarrely not available for robots today, and we want to change that.
As a cloud-based, low-latency, robot-agnostic platform, BOW’s technology enables telepresence applications—the immersive remote control of a robot anywhere in the world, claimed the company.
When using the app, users can see what the robot sees, hear what the robot hears, feel what the robot touches, and move around the robot’s environment using a virtual reality headset or browsers or mobile phones, said BOW.
This technology has applications such as helping to provide remote healthcare, supporting the travel and conference sector, and working in hazardous environments and disaster recovery, the company said.
Early users can give BOW feedback
“We are getting ready to launch this system for all to use, but before then we are inviting a limited number of people to try out premium BOW SDK features, and share their applications with each other,” explained Camilleri. “Our mission is to lower the barriers to entry to robotics and encourage its widespread adoption with the dream of a robot in every home.”
BOW said its SDK will enable developers to simplify using robots, including programming movement sequences. The SDK is responsive to Python, C++, C# for Unity and Golang with more languages in development.
Early users of the system will also have access to a feedback portal to share their experiences with using the software said the SF Capital-funded company. They will be able to share the applications they have created within the SDK, it said.
“We are coming to a crunch point with robotics where the sector needs standardisation, and we believe there is a strong appetite for that,” Camilleri said. “This is an opportunity for the robotics community to join us and bring their own ideas to life.”
Developers, software professionals, and students can sign-up for pre-release exclusive access to BOW SDK until Feb. 26. During trial, developers can leave reviews of the SDK on a Discord server via BOW's website.
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