Team Feedback

[Laura Rhodes]

Our NI USB-DAQ 6009 arrived in the mail today. I haven't yet hooked it up to the computer but I did install the two screw terminal blocks. The only problem I had was with the labels. I thought they were peel and stick, but after peeling, there was no adhesive.

The device is really cute. It's about 3" x 3" and weighs about 3 ounces. It has a molded loop in the plastic packaging. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to attach a lanyard to the loop so I can carry the device around my neck or if the loop is for attaching a security cable so the device doesn't "walk away".

Per the instructions in the NI email, I downloaded a 30-day evaluation copy of LabView 8. I viewed a few of the online tutorials and set up a simple data acquisition application collecting data from a microphone connected to the sound board on my PC (this was before the DAQ 6009 device arrived). As promised, LabView makes it easy to set up a custom data acquistion program. The LabView programming environment consists of the block diagram and the front panel. The user programs the block diagram by selecting functional blocks from a menu and "wiring" them together to specify the data flow (from input block to analysis block to output display block). The front panel shows the user controls and displays. It's easy to add graphs (similar to an oscilloscope) and add knobs and sliders for user input. I haven't used LabView professional for about 10 years, but the basic user interface hasn't changed significantly. They've made improvements mainly by increasing the sophistication and variety of the functional blocks available and adding dialog boxes for customizing the block's parameters. Several of the students on our team have had experience with RoboLab during their tenure with FIRST Lego League. RoboLab, used for programming the LEGO RCX controller, was based on an earlier version of LabView. Given their familiarity with selecting functional blocks, wiring them together, and pressing the RUN arrow button, I anticipate the students will be able to set up their virtual instruments with LabView without too much coaching.

I'll provide more feedback after we hook up the device to the computer and to the robot.

-Laura