KUKA Robot Group, the third largest robotics manufacturer worldwide, pioneered the concept of PCâ€?based controllers for robotics in a digital factory, and in 1995 reduced costs of controllers by 50 percent. Manufacturing productivity is significantly enhanced in the digital factory because robots are connected to Manufacturing Execution Systems and line operators can easily control robots by interacting with the familiar Microsoft Windows graphical userinterface. KUKA’s vision of the digital factory is made possible by Windows Embedded technology, which provides an expandable, standardsâ€?based operating system that is open to future development, easy and quick to localize for international markets, and connects to virtually any network.