National Instruments Donates Design Tools to Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Mechanical Engineering

National Instruments today announced that it is donating design tools to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to help expand the use of NI software and hardware in the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering via 10 mechatronics, robotics, manufacturing, control and design courses over the next five years.

“We are very appreciative of the support from National Instruments. Use of state-of-the-art NI tools enhances the classroom experience and reinforces student learning at multiple points in the curriculum,” said Professor Mary Cunningham Boyce, head of the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering. “The NI tools also help accelerate the department’s research into new areas, such as agile biomimetic robotics, high-speed imaging at the nanoscale and precision motion control.”

The donation will include products such as the NI LabVIEW Control Design and Simulation Module, the NI LabVIEW MathScript RT Module, NI PXI instrumentation, NI CompactRIO and NI Single-Board RIO. Through the donation, MIT has identified several key research projects. For example, Professor Sangbae Kim is using LabVIEW and NI Single-Board RIO for biomimetic robots. Additionally, Professor Kamal Youcef-Toumi is using LabVIEW, the LabVIEW Control Design and Simulation Module and NI reconfigurable I/O (RIO) technology for atomic force microscopy, and Professor Harry Asada has leveraged CompactRIO for various projects in robotic inspection. Professor David Trumper also has been using NI tools in research projects focusing on precision motion control and magnetic levitation.

“I am very excited about the NI gift, which will likely have a positive impact on teaching and research,” said Professor Trumper. “In my mechatronics and controls courses, we are adopting solutions based on NI hardware and the LabVIEW Real Time Module.”

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