National Instruments Pilot Program Teams Selected!

[Danny Diaz]

Teams that applied for the National Instruments Pilot Program should have received the following communication from FIRST and National Instruments announcing the selected pilot program teams:

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Greetings Teams:

FIRST and National Instruments (NI) are pleased to announce the FRC teams that have been selected to participate in the NI LabVIEW and USB DAQ pilot program. The following teams have been chosen, and will soon be contacted by NI with further details regarding shipment of technology and resources available.

Team Numbers:
33, 79, 93, 100, 108, 116, 173, 176, 180, 330, 341, 365, 418, 499, 525, 624, 687, 703, 706, 847, 868, 1002, 1038, 1114, 1241, 1259, 1327, 1379, 1506, 1511, 1519, 1533, 1592, 1676, 1732, 1825

There were 113 teams that submitted proposals to participate in the program! The chosen teams were selected based on the merit of their proposals as judged by NI. Because of the large number of outstanding proposals received, NI has decided to expand the size of the pilot group to the above 36 teams from the originally planned 25.

We want to thank you all for your interest in the NI Pilot Program.

Go Teams!

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Congratulations to all teams!

-Danny

[Andrew Schuetze]

Howdy Danny & Thanks NI


Came looking here immediately after I recieved the notice. What a nice bit of luck that three teams from Texas and two from the Central region of the State have been award the grants.

Depending upon the results of the pilot, we might want to hold a multi-team, I need to cross-check the pilot team list with the LSR registration, conference at the LSR in Houston which can afford a quicker and more robust exchange of ideas about what worked and what didn't. For sure, you will want to hold a confenrence in Atlanta. I know that 418 has put in a bid for Atlanta as have we. I haven't checked 624 Kryptonite status much less the rest of the 33 awarded teams.

APS

[Dan Petrovic]

Now... what do all of those teams have in common...

[RIgnazio]

When can we expect these kits to be shipped?

[DonRotolo]

Thank you NI for the outstanding opportunity.

After announcing the news at our team meeting, I had a number of kids from other sub-teams (that is, those not in the 'DAQ' group') come up and ask 'what is this DAQ stuff, and will it make the robot better?' They are truly interested, and excited, to be able to see what is /really/ going on in their 'bot, instead of observing from afar and guessing.

Now we have our work cut out for us. The power of a good DAQ program is easy to understand, even for the non-technical folks, but actually implementing a good program is easier said than done. Remembering when I was a newbie at DAQ and all the mistakes I made helps, but the kids have to make their own mistakes, too.

Congratulations to all the teams, thanks again to NI (especially for expanding the participants list!!), and I just can't wait to get the kids going in LabVIEW.

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


Don

[Danny Diaz]

Originally Posted by RIgnazio

When can we expect these kits to be shipped?

Very soon. We were waiting to see what happened with LabVIEW 8.0 Student Edition, if they didn't ship before the teams were announced then we would need to provide you a "student kit" with LabVIEW included - otherwise we would just need to provide a NI USB-6009 by itself. Since the LabVIEW 8.0 Student Edition has now shipped, we can ship you the devices straight from our warehouse.

-Danny

[RIgnazio]

Originally Posted by texasdiaz

Very soon. We were waiting to see what happened with LabVIEW 8.0 Student Edition, if they didn't ship before the teams were announced then we would need to provide you a "student kit" with LabVIEW included - otherwise we would just need to provide a NI USB-6009 by itself. Since the LabVIEW 8.0 Student Edition has now shipped, we can ship you the devices straight from our warehouse.

-Danny

Sorry to sound dumb here, but does that mean I should be expecting 2 different packages, or are they bundled into one?

And thanks for the answer.

[KathieK]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schuetze

For sure, you will want to hold a confenrence in Atlanta. I know that 418 has put in a bid for Atlanta as have we. I haven't checked 624 Kryptonite status much less the rest of the 33 awarded teams.

APS

Please consider submitting a proposal to make a presentation, or to hold a workshop on LabVIEW and DAQ at the 2006 FIRST Robotics Conference in April in Atlanta. Proposals are being received until December 16.

[Danny Diaz]

Originally Posted by RIgnazio

Sorry to sound dumb here, but does that mean I should be expecting 2 different packages, or are they bundled into one?

Good Question: You should expect to receive one package.

-Danny

[Danny Diaz]

Originally Posted by KathieK

Please consider submitting a proposal

I would love to. Problem is that I doubt I'm going to get to go to Atlanta unless team 418 goes and I travel with them (yes, we have a bid, but we don't know if we're going to be able to afford it this year). If anyone who has a guaranteed slot for Atlanta and is definitely going wants me to co-prepare a presentation with them, I'll gladly help someone prepare it and come join them if I do get to come.

BTW, what happens if I do submit a proposal and I have to cancel it because I won't be able to come?

-Danny

[Jeff Pahl]

Originally Posted by texasdiaz

If anyone who has a guaranteed slot for Atlanta and is definitely going wants me to co-prepare a presentation with them, I'll gladly help someone prepare it and come join them if I do get to come.

We've put in for this year, still trying to make the funding materialize. However, since I live in Atlanta, I plan on being there anyway. I don't have the time to prepare a complete presentation by myself, but would be happy to collaborate on one.

-Jeff

PS: They have added LabVIEW to the spell check function for all of us

[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

[Ryan F.]

This looks like a great oppurtunity for all teams selected. It will be a nice piece of technology to work with for some accurate feedback.

525's worksite this year is actually adjacent to a company who works with National Instuments and has expertise with the equiptment.

A thanks to National Insturments for this technology.

[Danny Diaz]

I'm making this thread a Sticky to highlight the Pilot Program Teams.

-Danny