First off, what OS are you using? And the reason for the pandaboard is for vision, so why shouldn't the vision program be strictly on that board? As for an environment, I'd suggest QT. It provides easy means for sending data to the cRIO via a UDP message that is easy to program. To install OpenCV, use this guideline:
http://opencv.willowgarage.com/wiki/InstallGuide. Depending on what Camera you are using, you may need to hack that as well. The kinect is the only one that I am aware needs hacking. IF you are using Ubuntu, then this is how to get the kinect to work:
http://openkinect.org/wiki/Getting_Started.