At the annual National Instruments Corp. trade show Aug. 5–8, NIWeek, an Austin ISD student will help with a robotics presentation as part of a keynote related to science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, education.

The annual graphical system design conference at the Austin Convention Center draws more than 3,000 engineers and scientists from around the world to learn about the latest technologies for designing automated measurement and control systems, according to Ray Almgren, NIWeek vice president of marketing.

"Our slogan [for this year's event] is 'All Systems Go,' and it's the notion that what the engineers and scientists face today is the need to quickly develop systems that integrate so many technologies everyone has to be a system designer now," he said. "There's so much technology available, but the key is being able to integrate it into something useful."

David Bocanegra, a student from Govalle Elementary School, will use a new robotics product, LEGO Mindstorms Education EV3, on Aug. 8 to program a robot and demonstrate how it works onstage, Almgren said.

Bocanegra, age 11, is a member of his school's First Lego League robotics team, a program designed to excite students in science, engineering and technology through building and programming robots, according to NI.

"The product was designed for children, so we wanted to give a child in the Austin area the chance to show how to use it," Almgren said.

Additionally, students from Anderson High School and Westlake High School have designed a Robotic Butler that will be on display throughout NIWeek.

Maneuvered by an XBox 360 controller, the robot features an interactive tablet for a face and a carousel of trays that can "serve" patrons of the trade show, according to NI.

Almgren explained the first day of the conference will focus on introducing new technologies NI has developed that will help attendees in designing systems. The second day highlights applications and development of systems from around the world, and the third day highlights efforts to inspire children to pursue careers in science, engineering and system design.

"That kind of brings it all full circle," he said. "It's a way for us to give a message to the audience to remember that what [they're] doing is important but we're conscious of the need to inspire the children because they're the ones who ultimately going forward will take advantage of technology innovations."

The international technology event will feature several exhibitors including local companies Dell, IBM, Intel Corp. and Xilinx Inc. Employees from 3M, Silicon Labs and Qualcomm, among other businesses, are registered to attend as well, according to NI.