National Instruments has introduced a version of its graphical system design software that can be used for designing robotic and autonomous control systems.
Called LabView Robotics 2009, can be used to design real-time embedded and FPGA-based hardware with the firm’s CompactRIO development platform.
It offers a software library to support standard robotic sensors and actuators, foundational algorithms for intelligent operations and perception and motion functions for robots and autonomous vehicles.
Designers can use the tool to import code from other languages including C/C++, .m files and VHDL. It can then design-in sensors using built-in drivers for LIDAR, IR, sonar and GPS devices.
There is also robotics specific IP for implementing functions such as obstacle avoidance, inverse kinematics and search algorithms to help an autonomous system or robot plan an optimal path.
“Initially developed as a data acquisition and instrument control tool for automated test, LabVIEW has grown into a powerful embedded mechatronics design platform,” said John Pasquarette, v-p of product marketing for software at National Instruments.