Kuka Controls donates RT extension licenses to universities worldwide

Recently, Kuka Controls GmbH announced a “University Research Support Program” that offers normally licensed CeWin and VxWin real-time (RT) extension software programs free of charge to qualified educational institutions. Participation requirements include a suitable project (or teaching syllabus); a scientific, engineering, or computer sciences curriculum; and laboratory facilities with the proper equipment. Kuka Controls is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kuka Roboter GmbH, a leading European industrial robot manufacturer.

Technology from Kuka allows Microsoft Windows XP Embedded (or 2000) and a real-time operating system to coexist on a single machine—a combination that reportedly provides “hard real-time” performance, user-friendly interface, and visualization features of Windows XP. VxWin adds Wind River’s VxWorks as an RT processing environment to Windows XP, while CeWin does the same for Windows operating system using Microsoft Windows CE. Click here to read more about CeWin in the April 1, 2004, edition of Control Engineering ‘s online daily news.

Universities and colleges, much like their counterparts in industry, will realize the advantages of using two operating systems on a single CPU that results in reduction of cost, size, and weight of the application as well as increased reliability, according to Kuka Controls. “Today’s students will benefit from a practical introduction to this advanced technology, as it will be a very common practice in the future,” notes Gerd Lammers, director of sales and marketing.

University Research Support Program will close on July 31, 2004. Eligibility is granted on a “per application basis” to non-commercial educational research projects. Any project requiring a real-time operating system will be considered. Interested parties can click here to complete an online application form .

—Frank J. Bartos, executive editor, Control Engineering, fbartos@reedbusiness.com

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