Programming languages - Choosing the right one

After a painful day of exploring the different programming languages that I could use(VB, VC# and MATLAB) and their available support for video for windows (VFW), I have come to a difficult stage of my project where I 'decide'; decide between two very robust yet different programming environments, VC# and MATLAB. Having to decide between the two languages brought me to one of the very fundamental questions a researcher would ask him/herself ? Do I write in a language that gives me an easy and efficient method to test out my algorithms, be it for navigation of AI, or do I write in a language that gives me the power to expand my software based machine learning environment which will allow to create an RC car with a powerful brain to traverse unconquered territory( just kidding).