NI Week 2010 Technology week in Austin

This week the Austin Convention Center is going high tech.
That's because National Instruments is holding their yearly conference and some of the latest technology involving everything from robots to cars is on display.
"We have four robots that roam around this area and they try to map it out to see where the obstacles and buildings are," said Karl Muecke, Software Engineer at National Instruments.
In the event of a natural disaster - robots that are programmed to look for objects and scan the area are being showcased. Engineers at National Instruments have programmed the robots to even communicate with one anther.
"So all the robots know I've already been here, I know there is nothing here, you don't need to worry about coming here," said Muecke.
It just one of dozens of high tech items featured at this year's NI week. The goal with the convention is to showcase how programs created by National Instruments can be implemented. Like a car that is designed to be driven by someone who is blind.
"We're using a laser range finder and a touch pad interface to provide a non-sighted driver auditory feedback as to what objects are in front of the vehicle," said Patrick Corcoran, Application Engineer at NI.
As the laser scans it send the driver a clicking signal over headphones letting the driver know how far an object is from the car.
While the car isn't road ready yet- there's one device your kids maybe asking for at Christmas.
"It allows you to play Mario just by your eye movement," said Hunter Smith, Applications Engineer at NI.
It's called the eye-Mario system.
"We place some electrodes on your face and we can detect your eye positions just based on the electrical signals," said Smith.
When you look right Mario moves in that direction. To jump you look up.
"Eventually we would like to detect the blink so you can be throwing a fireball from a left blink and jump from a right blink," said Smith.

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