Brick by Brick, Innovative Partnership Builds Future Engineers.SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 23, 1998-- LEGO, National Instruments National Instruments, or NI (NASDAQ: NATI), is an American company with over 4,000 employees and direct operations in 41 countries founded in 1976 by Dr. James Truchard, Bill Nowlin and Jeff Kodosky. , and Tufts University Tufts University, main campus at Medford, Mass.; coeducational; chartered 1852 by Universalists as a college for men. It became a university in 1955. Jackson College, formerly a coordinate undergraduate college for women, merged with the College of Liberal Arts in Create High-Tech System that Teaches Engineering Concepts in K-12 Classrooms With the shared goal of motivating students to explore career possibilities in engineering and science, National Instruments, LEGO Dacta and Tufts University today announced a partnership to develop an exciting educational program called ROBOLAB(tm) System. The new system uses a powerful combination of LEGO bricks and industry-standard software to introduce cutting-edge engineering tools to elementary through high school classrooms. With the ROBOLAB System, students design and build LEGO Robotic ro·bot·ic adj. Relating to, characteristic of, or employing robots. inventions. Using the ROBOLAB software, students write programs on a computer and then transfer these programs to a programmable LEGO brick -- the RCX RCX Robot Command Explorer RCX Robotic Command Explorer (Lego Mindstorms Robotics Invention System Kit) RCX RF Cross Connect RCX Remote Command Execution . The system contains motors, gears, and sensors that can make the robots turn, rotate, reverse directions, start and stop, and execute other robotic functions. The combinations of LEGO bricks and programs make potential student creations nearly limitless. The ROBOLAB program incorporates an ongoing K-12 curriculum that introduces new challenges to the students in each year of their educational careers. National Instruments LabVIEW(tm), the same software used by leading companies such as Lockheed Martin For the former company, see . Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a leading multinational aerospace manufacturer and advanced technology company formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. , Pepsi, Boeing and NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. , is the basis for the graphical programming language for the ROBOLAB System. The ROBOLAB software, jointly developed by National Instruments, Tufts University and LEGO Dacta, is engineered for the classroom and teaches basic computer programming, robotics robotics, science and technology of general purpose, programmable machine systems. Contrary to the popular fiction image of robots as ambulatory machines of human appearance capable of performing almost any task, most robotic systems are anchored to fixed positions , and automation skills. "We chose National Instruments LabVIEW for our ROBOLAB system because it is easy to teach students fundamental programming skills with the LabVIEW graphical programming language," said Chris Rogers Chris Rogers may refer to
"We are proud to partner with LEGO Dacta and Tufts to help develop the engineers and scientists of tomorrow," said James Truchard Dr. James Joseph Truchard (born June 25, 1943 in Austin County, Texas) is the co-founder and current president and CEO of National Instruments, a company producing automated test equipment and virtual instrumentation software. , president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of National Instruments. "LabVIEW was designed as an easy-to-use, flexible tool to help engineers and scientists be more productive and create innovative solutions. This project gives students a genuine understanding of engineering from hands-on experience." "This partnership builds on our long-term commitment to create exciting products based upon traditional LEGO values of quality, value, and exuberance," said Jens Maibom, LEGO Dacta Global Marketing manager. "As an educational tool, ROBOLAB introduces modern scientific and engineering concepts to students in a fun and innovative way. Working cooperatively and solving real-life problems in challenging settings will intrigue Intrigue See also Conspiracy. Borgias 15th-century family who stopped at nothing to gain power. [Ital. Hist.: Plumb, 59] Ems dispatch Bismarck’s purposely provocative memo on Spanish succession; sparked Franco-Prussian war (1870). teachers and thrill students." About LEGO Dacta LEGO Dacta, the educational division of the LEGO(tm) Group, was founded in 1980. LEGO Dacta has a long track record in the development of high-quality educational resources within Early Years learning, Science & Technology, and Information Control. The LEGO DACTA System offers a unique range of construction sets, providing students and teachers with superb opportunities for modeling and prototyping ideas. Today, educational materials from LEGO Dacta are marketed and sold to schools in more than 45 countries. In the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , LEGO Dacta is known as Pitsco LEGO Dacta. About Tufts Center for Engineering Outreach Outreach is an effort by an organization or group to connect its ideas or practices to the efforts of other organizations, groups, specific audiences or the general public. The Center for Engineering Educational Outreach at Tufts University is dedicated to bringing engineering into the K-12 classroom. Using the model of an engineering design project, the center coordinates engineering and education experts with teachers to design curricula based on engineering programs. More than 100 teachers in schools across the United States and abroad have worked with the center to generate curricula, test new teaching strategies, and investigate how kids learn. This approach has had great success in integrating math, science and reading and writing skills. Girls and boys, parents and teachers have all been enthusiastic participants. About National Instruments National Instruments, a leading supplier of computer-based measurement and automation products, was founded in 1976. The company manufactures hundreds of software and hardware products, which, when combined with industry-standard computers, replace and/or communicate with traditional instrumentation to acquire, analyze, and display data and to monitor and control processes. These computer-based instrumentation systems are used for test, measurement and industrial automation applications. Availability and For More Information Please contact LEGO Dacta for ROBOLAB availability. For more information, please see the ROBOLAB web site at www.natinst.com/robolab or contact: Tara Mason Michelle Moody Marjorie Howard National Instruments Pitsco LEGO Dacta Tufts University 512/683-6873 800/362-4308 617/627-3500 tara.mason@natinst.com mmoody@pitsco.com Product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.
CONTACT: National Instruments, Austin
Tara Mason, 512/683-6873
tara.mason@natinst.com
or
Pitsco LEGO Dacta
Michelle Moody, 800/362-4308
mmoody@pitsco.com
or
Tufts University
Marjorie Howard, 617/627-3500
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