ARC 2026.03.23.01 (Pro, Runtime And Free)

Welcome to the Spring Cleaning Edition of ARC. This update is all about making ARC feel smoother, faster, and just a little bit smarter about what it’s doing behind the scenes.
Also we may have convinced the UI to stop arguing with the rest of the app.

UI & Rendering Improvements

• New theme renderer improvements for a cleaner, sharper interface
• Updated legacy forms that were still living in the Windows 7 era
• Enhanced servo selector rendering for a smoother experience
• Optimized several user controls for better performance
• Huge UI performance gain by offloading UI synchronization to background tasks
• Switched to Segoe UI font for a more modern and readable look
• Added additional color themes to the new renderer
• New theme selection menu - you’ll now be prompted to choose your theme on first launch

Performance & Responsiveness

• Major threading overhaul: UI updates now use asynchronous BeginInvoke() instead of blocking Invoke() (~146 places updated)

What this means for you:

• Smoother robot control - no more waiting on the UI to catch up
• Reduced deadlocks - the app no longer gets stuck in awkward standoffs
• Faster script execution - UI updates don’t pause your scripts anymore
• More responsive interface - rapid updates flow naturally instead of clogging things up

Improvements & Changes

• Number touch selector is now smarter - drag any direction and it figures out what you mean
• Robot skill plugin config storage now supports dynamic types for custom classes
• Added generic <T> overloads for robot skill manager helpers (cleaner for developers)
• Added project properties for details and purchase URLs
• Firmware stub added to EZB v4/2.x and IoTiny firmware updater
• Blockly sound blocks now use filename-based commands instead of track numbers
• Improved RGB Animator variable descriptions in the picker

Cleanups

• Removed unused "board index" option from Read Digital skill (it won’t be missed)
• Updated summary comments in FormMain for robot skill developers
• Fixed minor duplicate assignments in the Camera device skill
• Updated older UI components to modern standards

Bug Fixes

• Fixed connection control saving the wrong EZB value (no more trying to connect to a name)
• Fixed SetFont() and SetCursorVisible() infinite recursion (goodbye stack overflows)
• Fixed HTTP GET throwing exceptions instead of returning proper success/failure
• Various UI element fixes and polish

Speech Recognition Fixes

General:

• Fixed cross-thread UI access issues
• Replaced EZBs[0] with PrimaryEZB for consistency
• Fixed integer overflow after ~32 seconds

Bing Speech:

• Fixed recording not restarting after configuration errors
• Resolved race condition that could lose audio data
• Removed misleading "Data Sent!" log on failure
• Corrected audio format to proper 16-bit depth

Final Thoughts

This release might not add flashy buttons or dancing robots
but under the hood, it’s like swapping your robot’s brain from "waiting politely" to "thinking ahead."

Everything should feel faster, smoother, and more responsive - just the way a robot control platform should be.

Now go build something awesome.