Explore the Fundamentals and Future of Robotics with National Instruments Robotics Webcast Series

In the past, robots have been used in tasks that are dull, dirty or dangerous such as mining, industrial and agricultural applications, but today robots are commonly used in a wide variety of applications that impact everyday lives. This exciting 4-part webcast series explores new robotics technologies and applications being used to create a safer, more efficient environment and revolutionise the way we think about the world around us.

Each webcast in the series will be broadcast twice, allowing attendees more flexibility to attend and directly interact with presenters and robotics experts. The programme is as follows:

Fundamentals of Robotics - 2pm Monday 24th & 10am Tuesday 25th May
From unmanned vehicle applications to complex surgical assistants, the challenges faced in this rapidly developing industry are many. The next generation of embedded technologies, using graphical system design, is helping roboticists overcome these challenges to design, prototype and deploy sophisticated robotic architectures. Find out how the science-fiction tale of ubiquitous robots is becoming a reality.

Sense, Think, Act for Unmanned Robotic System - 2pm Tuesday 25th & 10am Wednesday 26th May
Most mobile robots, including unmanned robotic systems and autonomous vehicles, can be characterised by three tasks – sensing the environment around them; making a decision based on a predefined task or the environment it senses; and acting, to perform a predefined task by adapting to its environment. Learn how graphical system design tools like NI LabVIEW are helping roboticists design sophisticated robotic architectures by seamlessly integrating sensors, like Velodyne LIDAR, and a variety of actuators with cutting-edge algorithms.

Robotics and Academic Research - 2pm Wednesday 26th & 10am Thursday 27th May
This webcast features the most advanced research in top academic institutions around the world, including exciting innovations from leading research experts such as Dr. Omerdic from the University of Limerick, Martin Levesley from the University of Leeds, Professors Wick and Hong from Virginia Tech and Professor Bewley from University of California at San Diego.

The Future of Robotics - 2pm Thursday 27th & 10am Friday 28th May
The final webcast in the series will address some of the challenges faced by roboticists, including the biggest challenge: the need for powerful software to design autonomous systems. With functionalities including the integration of robot-specific sensors and actuators, obstacle avoidance, search and kinematics algorithms, as well as visualisation capabilities, see how powerful design tools, such as NI LabVIEW Robotics software, can develop sophisticated robots with elegant simplicity.