National Instruments Pilot Program Teams Selected!

[Danny Diaz]

Originally Posted by Don Rotolo

Oh, and "what do all these teams have in common?" - IMHO they all understand the value of measurement and calculated design over seat-of-the-pants engineering (you know, the FUN engineering), AND they know how to explain that in writing.

Don hit it straight on the head. The selection committee - which I will go ahead and say I was one of the members - didn't look at what the team's number was, didn't look at the geographical location of the team, and didn't give how much experience the teams had in FIRST any major weight in the selection process. What we looked at was how well the team could relay to us what they wanted to use the technology for and how that technology would be used to benefit various aspects of the FIRST build. This was important to us because we want the experiences the teams have this year to be relayed back to us and to other teams who may use the technology next year - and we want to be able to understand it. Realize that the biggest asset to this program will be in team feedback, and of the many thousands of dollars NI is putting into this program THAT is what we're really paying for. That way we can provide better tools to help you design, prototype, test, and validate your robot and software with minimal effort, greater understanding, and sooner than you would using traditional methods.

-Danny