[Nfbk] FW: Blind Driver Challenge Receives Top Graphical System Design Achievement Awards at NIWeek 2010

[Cathy]

-----Original Message-----
From: Freeh, Jessica [mailto:JFreeh at nfb.org]
Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 9:07 AM
To: Alpidio Rolon; Amy Buresh; Angela Wolf; Anil Lewis; Art Schreiber; Beth
Rival; Bill Packee; Bob Kresmer; Carl Jacobsen; Cassandra McNabb; Cathy
Jackson; Charlene Smyth; Christine G. Hall; Dan Hicks; Daniel Burke; Don
Galloway; Donna Wood; Elsie Dickerson; Frank Lee; Franklin Shiner; Fred
Schroeder; Gary Ray; Gary Wunder; J.W. Smith; James Antonacci; Jennelle
Bichler; Jennifer Dunnam; Joe Ruffalo; John Batron; John Fritz; Joyce
Scanlan; Ken Rollman; Kevan Worley; Kim Williams; Larry Posont; Lynn
Majewski; Mary Willows; Matt Lyles; Matt Lyles; Melissa Riccobono; Michael
Barber; Michael Freeman; Mika Pyyhkala; Nani Fife; Pam Allen; Parnell Diggs;
Patti Chang; Rena Smith; Richard Gaffney; Ron Brown; Ron Gardner; Sam
Gleese; Scott LaBarre; Selena Sundling-Crawford
Subject: Blind Driver Challenge Receives Top Graphical System Design
Achievement Awards at NIWeek 2010


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



CONTACT:

Chris Danielsen

Director of Public Relations

National Federation of the Blind

(410) 659-9314, extension 2330

(410) 262-1281 (Cell)

cdanielsen at nfb.org



Blind Driver Challenge Receives Top Graphical System
Design Achievement Awards at NIWeek 2010



Baltimore, Maryland (August 16, 2010): The National Federation of the Blind'
s Blind Driver Challenge-an innovative effort to create a nonvisual
interface that empowers a blind person to operate an automobile-received the
2010 Application of the Year Award at the National Instruments Graphical
System Design Achievement Awards ceremony held during the NIWeek annual
conference in Austin, Texas.  In response to a challenge issued by the
National Federation of the Blind (NFB), students and researchers at Virginia
Tech-using National Instruments (NI) technology-developed a semi-autonomous
vehicle that allows a blind driver to successfully navigate, control speed,
and avoid collision while traversing a closed driving course.  NIWeek,
hosted by National Instruments, is the world's leading graphical system
design conference and exhibition, showcasing the latest developments in
graphical system design, virtual instrumentation, and commercial
technologies.  The Virginia Tech/TORC Blind Driver Challenge team project
also received the Graphical System Design Achievement Award in the Robotics
category.



Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said:
"The Blind Driver Challenge is a National Federation of the Blind initiative
to cause the creation of a nonvisual driving interface for the blind.  We
can build a car that the blind can drive independently and safely.  All we
need is an interface that can capture information from the environment and
provide it to the blind driver in nonvisual ways.  The innovations produced
in the process of creating this blind-drivable vehicle will help the blind
gain access to a great deal of information that has traditionally been
presented only visually.  These innovations will also help the sighted find
ways to learn more than they now know and operate machines with increased
efficiency and safety."



The paper describing the project was submitted by Dr. Dennis Hong, director
of the Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa) at Virginia Tech's
College of Engineering, along with Greg Jannaman and Kimberly Wenger, two of
the undergraduate students that worked under Dr. Hong's direction on the
first-generation prototype of the nonvisual interface for a blind-drivable
vehicle.  Dr. Hong and his students are currently working with the NFB on
the second-generation prototype vehicle, which will integrate new and
improved versions of the first-generation nonvisual interface technologies
into a Ford Escape.  The vehicle is scheduled to be demonstrated to the
public as part of the pre-race activities at the 2011 Rolex 24 At Daytona on
January 29, 2011.



Dr. Hong said: "Three years ago we accepted the NFB Blind Driver Challenge
to develop a vehicle that can be driven by a blind person.  I recognized
this as an opportunity to motivate my students to challenge themselves to
change the world.  Winning the National Instruments Graphical System Design
Achievement Award is a tremendous validation of their hard work and
creativity."



Ray Almgren, vice president of marketing for core platforms at National
Instruments, said: "The competition was very intense this year, with more
than one hundred applications submitted by universities and technology
companies from around the world who are using National Instruments hardware
and software to create life-changing technologies.  The Blind Driver
Challenge of the National Federation of the Blind is truly reflective of our
commitment to provide students, engineers, and scientists with the
technology and training to improve quality of life worldwide."



For more information about the NFB, please visit www.nfb.org.  For our
digital news release about the Blind Driver Challenge and the planned debut
of the BDC car at the Rolex 24, including audio and video clips for
television and radio, please visit www.DigitalNewsRelease.com/?q=NFB_CarKit.





###









About the National Federation of the Blind



With more than 50,000 members, the National Federation of the Blind is the
largest and most influential membership organization of blind people in the
United States.  The NFB improves blind people's lives through advocacy,
education, research, technology, and programs encouraging independence and
self-confidence.  It is the leading force in the blindness field today and
the voice of the nation's blind.  In January 2004 the NFB opened the
National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and
training center in the United States for the blind led by the blind.



About National Instruments



National Instruments (www.ni.com) is transforming the way engineers and
scientists design, prototype and deploy systems for measurement, automation
and embedded applications.  NI empowers customers with off-the-shelf
software such as NI LabVIEW and modular cost-effective hardware, and sells
to a broad base of more than 30,000 different companies worldwide, with no
one customer representing more than 3 percent of revenue and no one industry
representing more than 15 percent of revenue.  Headquartered in Austin,
Texas, NI has more than 5,000 employees and direct operations in more than
40 countries.  For the past 11 years, FORTUNE magazine has named NI one of
the 100 best companies to work for in America.



LabVIEW, National Instruments, NI, ni.com and NIWeek are trademarks of
National Instruments. Other product and company names listed are trademarks
or trade names of their respective companies.









-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20100816/c6c4afe5/attachment.html>