Well, this video could use some editing but here it is. A totally useless application demonstrating the vision capabilities of LabVIEW. Watch a camera mounted on an X-Y motion platform tracking the movements of a goldfish in a fish tank.
I just downloaded the free Spore creature creator. I created my first creature, took some photos of it and even uploaded a video to Youtube directly from the software. All of the above in just half an hour of playing with it. It’s pretty slick.
I gotta hand it to the creators for coming up with imaginative names for all the varied body parts available in the game. Names such as: Pincernaut, Crockisser, Terrorpin, Gobsterclaw and Nubknuckle. Just to name a few. The physics of the creations is pretty realistic. If you have kids, put them in front of this and watch them learn.
There is a new Mindstorms NXT book currently in production by Michael Gasperi that focuses on using LabVIEW to program your robot. I’m excited about this for obvious reasons. I’m a strong advocate of using LabVIEW in just about everything and of course the popular Lego robot is no exception. NXT-G has LabVIEW at the core, but it has a very limited subset of the entire language.
LabVIEW for MINDSTORMS was written by an expert in LEGO MINDSTORMS with the cooperation of National Instruments to create the definitive guide to programming the NXT using LabVIEW. See Author Bio
Using the robotic construction projects included with the retail Lego Mindstorms NXT product the author shows how advanced tools from the LabVIEW Toolkit can be used to build more versatile and complicated designs. Several new projects of a more laboratory or industrial nature are also included to show computer control with the NXT as a data acquisition and control device. Advanced NXT topics like Data Files, Bluetooth, and I2C communications are also treated as well as how to connect the NXT to the internet with a web server.
The book is further set apart by its packaging. Enclosed with each new book is a CD containing the LabVIEW 8.5 demo version, the LabVIEW Toolkit, and all the programming examples from the book. Everything you need to enhance and extend your robotic design.
Michael Gasperi is an authority and a well known author of several LEGO MINDSTORMS books. His popular website, LEGO Mindstorms NXT/RCX Sensor Input Page, homebrew sensor chapters in the Extreme MINDSTORMS, and his Extreme NXT book have guided hundreds people through the process of building hardware extensions and programming in alternative languages.
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I always do what Google tells me to do. A few weeks ago my Google reader suggested that I should follow the robotgrrl blog RSS feed. So I did. This blog is about robotics from a Montreal, Canada High School girls point of view. Erin loves robots. So much so that she applied to the Stanford University EPGY summer program - Artificial Intelligence. After she got accepted, she announced that funding for her tuition would come from the sale of styrobots. These are little hand made robots that combine vibrobot “technology”, painted Styrofoam cups and a cute name. Erin is selling these on Etsy. Erin is heading for the final stretch deadline to collect $1200 before June 13th. You can help. Go to her site and donate to a good cause. Not sure if Erin will make any more Styrobots for her Etsy shop but keep checking there. After the recent exposure she got on dvice, I don’t think she will be able to keep up with demand. Watch the video to see what a Styrobot looks like.
Update: 6 New Styrobots have been built.
NI has recorded some great webinars on the subject of managing your LabVIEW based applications. These are broken down into 8 segments and cover the topics people are talking about right now:
Chapter 1: Organizing Files on Disk
Best practices and recommendations for how to setup file hierarchies on disk to prepare for large application development in LabVIEW.Chapter 2: The Project Explorer
Learn how to migrate existing applications into the LabVIEW Project Explorer and use tools in the Project to setup your hierarchical structure.Chapter 3: Cross-Linking Tools
Take advantage of tools integrated into the Project Explorer to prevent, detect and repair incorrectly linked LabVIEW code.Chapter 4: Group Development Practices
Learn about tools and practices in LabVIEW that will aide management of development across multiple developersChapter 5: Integrated Source Code Control
Best practices for using source code control providers from within the LabVIEW Project Explorer.Chapter 6: VI Compare and Version Tracking
Take advantage of advanced functionality that source code control integration provides in order to track changes and perform graphical code differencing.Chapter 7: Using the Project Library
Learn about advantages of using the Project Library, including how to modularize code and develop APIs for distribution amongst multiple developers.Chapter 8: Deploying Applications
Use the Application Builder from within the Project Explorer in order to distribute end-use applications developed in LabVIEW.
In this event sponsored by National Instruments and others, participants will send Lego NXT and RCX kits into the stratosphere:
To help commemorate the 10th anniversary of LEGO® Mindstorms®, Nevada Space Grant, the University of Nevada-Reno, National Instruments, The Energizer Battery Company, and the LEGO Mindstorms Team will be conducting the High Altitude LEGO Extravaganza.
H.A.L.E is an event that will carry up to 15 LEGO Mindstorms-based payloads into the Earth’s stratosphere. At that altitude H.A.L.E. will be above 99.9% of the atmosphere. They payloads will be exposed to extreme the cold and radiation of near space. The sky looks black and the curvature of the Earth is evident. Individuals and teams from all around the world are busy designing and building payloads for this historic event.
All payloads will be NXT and/or RCX controlled. Some teams will be flying cameras. Some will be flying scientific experiments. Most, importantly, every team will be having fun.
H.A.L.E. will take place in Reno, NV between July 28-August 2 (exact date to be announced and contingent on weather - check this website for updates as the date approaches).
The launch vehicle consists of an atmospheric weather balloon and a communication system to track the payloads. Once the balloon reaches approximately 30 km in altitude, it ruptures and the payloads return to the ground under parachute.
Projected minimum altitude: 27 km (88,000 feet)
Projected maximum altitude 33 km (108,000 feet)
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Resources:
- High Altitude LEGO Extravaganza Homepage
Psst! Hey…, want to know how to get a discount to the upcoming NIWeek 2008 Worldwide Graphical System Design Conference and Exhibition? Give one or more presentations in an upcoming local LabVIEW user group meeting and you could get up to $1000 off of your registration price. Check out the details here.
From now until July 31st, when you give a presentation at any LabVIEW User Group meeting, you are eligible for a discount on your NIWeek 2008 registration.
How to participate: Contact the owner of your local LabVIEW User Group and request to give a presentation at the next User Group Meeting. The local user group owner determines the agenda with input on topics from attendees. Click here to find the LabVIEW User Group at your company or in your area. After presenting, send your presentation to Theresa Woodiel, (theresa.woodiel@ni.com) to receive your discount code to NIWeek 2008. Please include the date and location of the meeting where the presentation was given.
Number of Presentations Given:
1 = $250 off
2 = $500 off
3 = $750 off
4 = $1000 off
The big announcement this year at the FIRST robotics finals in Atlanta was the new robot controller from National Instruments. This new controller called cRIO runs a real-time OS and can be programmed using LabVIEW. The power of this new technology will open the door for new and more interesting challenges for future FIRST competitions.One area that is underdeveloped in the FRC category of the competition is the autonomous mode. This is in contrast to FLL which is mostly autonomous. Hopefully we will see some interesting games ahead.
In this video VI Shots interviews Ray Almgren who leads the worldwide academic relations program for National Instruments. We also interview several mentors and students to get their feedback on this change in direction for next years competition. Teams 2023, 1739, 47, 107 and 2053 are featured.
Photo taken by Deirdre of my interview with Ray Almgren
Are you on a team? What’s your opinion on the new hardware and LabVIEW?
We were the first to blog about Slashbot back in March. Now, Slashbot is Internet famous after it was featured on Engadget. It now has 177K+ hits on Youtube. A record for any video featuring LabVIEW or NI technology. I like the fact that it uses solenoids to hit the guitar buttons. This means it could possibly be retrofitted to attach to a humanoid robot that holds the guitar. That would look kinda neat. I contacted Michael Voth and it seems that this demo will be making an appearance at NIWeek 2008. I promise to bring back a video interview of this cool project.
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