VI Shots

NXT-G Online is software that allows you to program a virtual Lego Mindstorms NXT. Are you a school that doesn’t have enough cash for an NXT hardware set. No fear, this virtual software actually lets you program in NXT-G and download to a virtual NXT brain. Then you can execute the code and see it in virtual action.

To help better understand what is going on in the video, here is the sequence of chronologically events:

• A challenge was selected – a video that came up introduced the challenge.
• The simulated NXT-G programming environment was opened
• Wrote some code (4 motor blocks were dragged onto the palette, and each was set at a different power level).
• Downloaded the NXT-G program to the virtual NXT robot, which automatically opened the virtual environment.
• The robot was moved to where we wanted it to start.
• The virtual NXT brick was opened and we ran the program that was just created. The robot moved accordingly.

Note that the release version of NXT-G Online also has the ability select different sensors and motors for the virtual robot after which you can go back and change your code to make use of your modifications.

Source: The NXT STEP – LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Blog

VI Shots talked with Maria Bualat from the NASA Ames Research Intelligent Robotics Group. Gigapan.org is a website where people can upload super high resolution panoramic photos. These photos were taken by a prototype motorized automated pan and tilt camera mount that figures out the exact positions of all the multiple snapshots required to make an awesome high resolution panorama. Gigapan (gigapixel panorama) was developed by Carnegie Mellon University in collaboration with NASA Ames Intelligent Robotics Group, with support from Google. The price for this technology seems within reach of the consumer market at $279.

At the end of the video, Maria talks a little about here background and the K10 robotics platform which NASA used in the Canadian Arctic recently. The robots, K10 Black and K10 Red, carried 3-D laser scanners and ground-penetrating radar. The two NASA robots surveyed a rocky, isolated polar desert within a crater in the Arctic Circle. The study helped scientists learn how robots could evaluate potential outposts on the moon or Mars.

Resources mentioned in video:

• Intelligent Robotics group
• NASA Robots Practice Moon Survey in the Arctic Circle (Haughton Crater Site Survey Field Test)
• Gigapan Website
• Gigapan Hardware
• Download Video

Additional Video:

In this VI Shots video taken at Robodevelopment 2007, we talk with Ariel Cohen the founder and chairman of Galileo Mobility Instruments. Their company has developed a unique wheel that can transform into a rugged track quickly and easily.

Galileo is the innovator of a unique breakthrough technology, The Galileo Wheel which combines wheel and track in a single component. The simple mechanism enables switching back and forth between the two modes within seconds. The technology enables the device to use wheels whenever possible, and tracks whenever needed.

They are currently looking for partners to adapt their invention to the consumer robotics market after successfully landing a contract with an Israeli defense contractor.

Resources in this Video:

• Download Video
• Galileo Mobility Instruments
• Robodevelopment 2007

Additional video:

In this VI Shots video taken at Robodevelopment 2007, we talk with Paul Roberts, a developer with Microsoft Robotics Studio. Yes, it’s similar to LabVIEW and it can be used as a general purpose language.

Resources mentioned:

• Download Video
• Microsoft Robotics Studio
• Robodevelopment 2007

Download VideoBraintech demonstrates Volts-IQ to VI Shots.

Braintech’s VOLTS-IQ Visual Intelligence Software Suite provides feature recognition, object localization and robot guidance in the form of Microsoft Robotics Studio (MSRS) services.

VOLTS-IQ uniquely combines Braintech’s proven robot vision expertise with Microsoft’s powerful MSRS service-based architecture. Using VOLTS-IQ, researchers, commercial product developers and hobbyists can “vision-enable” their robotic projects and products with unprecedented ease and speed, leap frogging the traditional barriers involved with vision development and bringing their ideas to life faster than ever.

Resources mentioned in this video:

• Volts-IQ
• Microsoft Robotics Studio
• Braintech
• Mindstorms NXT

National Instruments continuously works closely with Lego to expand virtual instrumentation into the classroom by developing LabVIEW integration with their Mindstorms NXT platform. In this latest VI Shots video we see a demo of an NI product acquired from Hyperception, the Speedy-33. We see how the Speedy-33 combined with a HiTechnic interface can integrate LabVIEW signal processing algorithms to move an NXT based on audio frequencies.

Resources mentioned in Video:

• Infinity Project
• NI Speedy-33
• HiTechnic
• LabVIEW
• Lego

Download VideoNational Instruments had a very small booth at Macworld Expo this year. They were there nonetheless and I asked them a few questions about the current state of LabVIEW on the Mac. I also wanted to find out how, and if, a current Windows user like myself could use a Mac exclusively and still manage to satisfy Windows based LabVIEW project clients. According to Mike Neil, LabVIEW product manager, you can have your cake, er… Mac and eat it too. With the use of virtual machines (vmware fusion, parallels) or bootcamp (which boots the whole machine into Windows), you can now run your windows development environment on a Mac and satisfy any Windows project requirements. Which leaves me asking myself, why am I still on a PC?

Are you working with LabVIEW on the Mac? Tell us about your experiences in the comments.

Download VideoI came a cross this inventor at Macworld Expo 2008. His name is Matthew Michaels and has come up with this awesome iPhone\iPod touch accessory for hands-free movie watching called iLidz. The idea is simple but the results are huge. Just the idea of not having to hold the player in your hands is great on its own, but add a 4x magnification and the results are hard to believe.

Download VideoI went to Macworld Expo this year to learn about new technology and instead stumbled across three inspirational teens from Santa Barbara Middle School. They are part of a team of students that are involved with the school Teen Press program. They are currently covering Macworld Expo and in about a week or so will be covering the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Check out all their great videos at: sbmsteenpress.org

Download Video
In building the uBot-5, the team decided to go with Microsoft Robotics Studio.
Additional Resources:
Laboratory for Perceptual Robotics