[Doc Wu]

Our team had been programming in C on the IFI controllers. We seriously considered continuing in C/C++ in 2009, but eventually decided to go with LabView.

We only had one Mentor with much experience in C/C++ and a couple who knew just a smattering. No students with any experience.

None of us had any experience in LabView, yet we decided to choose it because of it's building-block approach and visual clarity. We felt it would be easier to get students involved in the process.

Some of our students from a FLL background had used the NXT software, so they liked it.

We struggled at first, but eventually made progress and were happy with the results. We found a local resource who coached us on LabView and Ben Zimmers videos were extremely helpful.

Our schools don't teach any real programming courses, so there was no knowledge base in either C/C++ or Java. Our local university uses Java in their Computer Science program, but we have no resources there.

This year, we are so comfortable with LabView, we are continuing to use it and look forward to using it again.


...and yes, we had an autonomous mode - several of them - last year.