Microsoft has apparently made there own “opensource” controller called the Gadgeteer. I personally never heard of it til I stumbled on it in the article below. I looked at Microsoft’s store and you can’t seem to buy it from there (I wonder if the on campus store has it), but it is for sale for around $50 at a few robotic sites.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/gadgeteer-microsofts-hardware-hacking-platform-you-havent-heard-of/