I/O: an ultrasonic distance sensor, a servo motor on which the sensor is mounted, and two DC drive
motors. Figure 1 shows the components of a LabVIEW Robotics Starter Kit robot.
3
2
1
1.
Single-Board RIO controller
2.
Sensor
3.
Motor
Figure 1. Components of a LabVIEW Robotics Starter Kit Robot
Note
Refer to the
Robotics Module»LabVIEW Robotics Starter Kit
book on the
Contents
tab of the
LabVIEW Help
for more information about the Robotics Starter Kit.
The remainder of this manual uses the Robotics Starter Kit as an example to explain the process of
getting started with a typical robotics system and the Robotics Module.
Host Computer
The host computer is a computer with the LabVIEW Development System and LabVIEW modules and
toolkits installed on which you develop the VIs for the robotics system. After you develop the robotics
VIs, you can download and run the VIs on RT and FPGA targets, such as CompactRIO and Single-Board
RIO products. The host computer also can run VIs that communicate with the VIs running on targets to
provide a user interface.
LabVIEW Projects
Use LabVIEW projects on the host computer (1) to group LabVIEW files and files not specific to
LabVIEW, create stand-alone applications, and deploy or download VIs (3) and applications to RT (2)
and FPGA targets that contain I/O modules (4). When you save a project, LabVIEW creates a project
file (
.lvproj
), which can include references to files in the project, configuration information, build
information, and deployment information. Figure 2 shows the parts of a typical LabVIEW project.
©
National Instruments
3
Getting Started with the LabVIEW Robotics Module