Community Spotlights

Engineering TV: LabVIEW Power Pad

Deirdre — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 21:33:14 GMT

In the spirit of the Beijing Olympics, NI featured an interactive LabVIEW demonstration at NIWeek 2008 where competitors could compete in a video game reminiscent of the original Konami Track & Field series. Only this game was programmed using LabVIEW and the control interface utilizes the classic Nintendo Power Pad, a mat with twelve pressure-sensors embedded between two layers of flexible plastic. Check out the video here!

LabVIEW Application Featured on Conan O'Brien Show

Deirdre — Mon, 05 May 2008 23:39:26 GMT

LabVIEW developer Brian Turner was on the Conan O'Brien TV show on May 2 to talk about NASA's 2008 Space Elevator Competition. Brian's team, the Kansas City Space Pirates, will be using LabVIEW and NI CompactRIO to compete for a $2M dollar grand prize.

Here is Brian's response on the appearance:

Space Pirate news 5-9-08

The Conan Show was a big hit. I managed not to choke and remained rather articulate through the 5 min interview. We did not however get to cover the competition, the team or the sponsors. They were on the list but I had no idea how fast time would fly. I felt that I was on for only 30 seconds. We clearly managed to inform thousands of viewers about the space elevator and raise awareness. I saw a big jump in web site visitors but only received 1 small donation. The show will be re-run at least once so even more may come of it. I will keep you posted.

You can go watch the video on the NBC site if you missed it. We mechanically steered an beam! It was just a laser pointer and only in 1 dimension. Still it is a small but significant step in our mission. We are planning to go to the ISDC (International Space Development Conference) in Washington DC at the end of this month. I plan on meeting with potential supporters there and hopefully securing the

funds needed for the rest of this year.

Here is a photo from NBC.com. Check out the Powered by LabVIEW hard hat!! LabVIEW really is everywhere.

Video: Trends in the Test, Measurement and Control Industries

Deirdre — Sat, 03 May 2008 00:08:58 GMT

Test engineers in industries ranging from aerospace and defense to consumer electronics are facing the challenge of testing increasingly complicated designs with shrinking timelines and budgets. Check out this YouTube video from NI Product Manager Kevin Bisking, which draws out the new test and measurement technologies that are capable of meeting complex design requirements without raising costs.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame with LabVIEW and Compact DAQ

Deirdre — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:38:12 GMT

The VI Road Show has a cool video showing how CompactDAQ was used to measure how hard Tim Dehne, senior vice president of R&D and former member of the Rice University baseball team, could hit a baseball. Since it's opening day for the sport in the United States, we figured it would be a cool application to highlight.

Video: Wiimote, Robotics, and LabVIEW

Deirdre — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 03:59:37 GMT

Check out this cool YouTube video from NI AE Evan Dozier. He found an old robotic arm with a broken controller and revamped it using NI hardware, LabVIEW and the Nintendo Wiimote. Evan uses special Bluetooth LabVIEW VIs to control the robot.