Futuristic technology in Austin

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Futuristic technology is being showcased in Austin this week during National Instruments' annual NI Week . Engineers, companies, and inventors from around the world gather at the Austin Convention Center for three days every year to demonstrate how they have used technology from National Instruments in their products.

Like the Hermes Spacecraft.  It resembles the now retired space shuttle and was created  to take space tourists high above the earth.

"You get about 10 to 15 minutes of zero gravity then it circles in and lands," said Morris Jarvis, Owner and Creator of the Hermes Spacecraft. "It's very similar to the space shuttle."

While the craft hasn't taken off yet - National Instruments' LabVIEW technology controls the systems that monitor the spacecraft.

There’s even a remote cockpit to do the testing.

"When we do our ground level testing we can be within a few miles range so we can control this remotely so no one has to be inside the cockpit," said Mark Longanbach, Program Manager.

From space to tornados - other technology is tracking these killer storms. Like the truck called the TWISTEX that is used by a team of storm chasers for the Discovery Channel.

The probe on the back of the truck is what the crew clamps to the ground in the hope a tornado will pass over it. Technology from National Instruments collects the data.

"It's really important the software be reliable because they only get one chance at each tornado," said Jeffrey Phillips, LabVIEW Product Manger.

Other technology gets more than one chance to get it right. Charli is the second incarnation of the first full size autonomous human working robot created by engineers at Virginia Tech.

"You press start, no one touches anything and there are cameras in the eyes," said Dennis Hong, Virginia Tech Professor. "It looks around, identifies objects and what to do, and using artificial intelligence it walks and does things on its own."

While they hope to one day make it do your dishes or wash your clothes - a smaller version is the beginning technology for a robot soccer team.

"The goal by 2050 is to have full size human robots play against the human world cup champions and win," said Hong.

NI Week runs through August 4th at the Austin Convention Center.