[Nfbsatx] Fwd: [Chapter-presidents] Blind Driver Challenge Receives Top Graphical System Design Achievement Awards at NIWeek 2010

Tue Aug 17 12:42:00 UTC 2010

this is for sure going in the right direction. Great news!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Freeh, Jessica" <JFreeh at nfb.org>
Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2010 04:40:16 -0500
Subject: [Chapter-presidents] Blind Driver Challenge Receives Top
Graphical System Design Achievement Awards at NIWeek 2010
To: david.andrews at nfbnet.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

Chris Danielsen

Director of Public Relations

National Federation of the Blind

(410) 659-9314, extension 2330

(410) 262-1281 (Cell)

<mailto:cdanielsen at nfb.org>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
Challengean innovative effort to create a
nonvisual interface that empowers a blind person
to operate an automobilereceived 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 Techusing National Instruments (NI)
technologydeveloped 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
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
/>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
<http://www.nfb.org/>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
<http://www.digitalnewsrelease.com/?q=NFB_CarKit>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
(<http://www.ni.com/>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.

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