Flying Saucers and Climbing Robots: The Invasion Begins March 8

Submitted by Jeremy on March 6, 2013 - 19:06

FIRST Logo

For the past six weeks, teams of high school students around the world have been designing, collaborating, marketing, animating, programming and building robots to compete in the 2013 FIRST Robotics Challenge regional tournaments. This year, teams are preparing robots for a game called “Ultimate Ascent”, a mix of Frisbee and climbing played between two Alliances of three teams each. Each Alliance competes with robots aiming as many flying discs as possible into goals during a two-minute and 15-second match. Matches end with robots attempting to successfully climb pyramids located near the middle of the playing field. The Oregon regional tournament takes place March 8-9 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

Elemental is proud to support this event for the second consecutive year. We’ll be on hand with our live encoder to capture all the action from the pit in the Coliseum and stream it live over the Internet. Thanks to Elemental gear and volunteer staff on-site to run the video streaming portion of the event, you can watch these young engineers operating robots in a tournament setting on your computer, iPad, iPhone or Android device. Check out the live event stream here. 

The Ultimate Ascent competition progresses in stages. On February 19, robots were “bagged and tagged”, signifying the end of the build season. Work continues, however, right up to the regional competition with each team testing and refining their mechanisms and code. Teams also use this time leading up to the regional events to hone their skills at robot operation, alliance strategy and designing additional flair!

Sound like fun? It is. But it’s also hard work giving the students preparing these robots plenty of practical 
experience in engineering, marketing, project management and other skills they’ll be able to use in the world after high school, into college and beyond.
Ultimate Ascent Robots
“The experience provided by participation in the FIRST robotics programs is something many professional engineers wish we could have had when we were in high school,” said Don Nelke, principal software engineer at Elemental. “From a personal perspective, two of my children have participated in FIRST Lego League and FRC Robotics programs. The eldest of the two, my daughter, was inspired by this program and is currently enrolled in the engineering program at OSU. My son continues with this year’s FRC season.”
FIRST or ‘For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology’ was founded in 1989 as a non-profit organization to “inspire young people's interest and participation in science and technology”. The FIRST goal is to provide programs that motivate students to explore science, technology, engineering and math through education while laying the foundation for future careers in the technology arena. The program seeks to inspire self-confidence, innovation, and build leadership skills in the student participants and its success can be attributed to the enthusiastic participation of corporate sponsors, mentors, and volunteers from the community.

We can all be proud of the students who choose to participate in the program and the volunteers who mentor these bright young minds. If you're in the Portland area, come by the Coliseum this Friday or Saturday to show your support and see this exciting event up close. Or tune into the live stream from your computer or mobile device to see the young engineers and robots compete. Elemental wishes the best of luck to all competitors in the tournament!

Case Study: MTV Wants its Multiscreen Video

Submitted by MattF on January 28, 2013 - 01:00

Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards

MTV has pioneered new online technology since video killed the radio star. With a young, internet savvy audience craving video everywhere, MTV needed a high-performance, flexible video solution that could push its vast amount of network content to online outlets like MTV.com. After receiving recommendations from industry colleagues, MTV deployed Elemental® Live to format content destined for online delivery. MTV now uses Elemental Live to encode high-profile, public facing live events. In this case study, we look at the reasons MTV picked Elemental Live including: 

  • superior picture quality
  • high density video encoding
  • flexibility for on-site production and rack-mounted operations

Behind the music, Elemental Live delivers the diverse video content of the network ranging from one-on-one interviews to large tent-pole events like the MTV Video Music Awards. With Elemental Live powering the streaming for its popular shows and large-scale events, MTV gives its viewers every opportunity to tune in on the connected device of their choice. Due to the encoder’s sheer density, publishing a higher number of adaptive bit rate streams makes video delivery to end users that much smoother. The advantages available to MTV with Elemental Live have sent older encoding equipment into semi-retirement. Now, Elemental gear ensures that MTV’s multiscreen video offerings best complement the network’s coverage on its standard broadcast channel. Read the MTV case study here.

Streaming Media Triple Threat and What it Means to Matter

Submitted by MattF on October 8, 2012 - 09:50

Streaming Media Readers ChoiceEach year, Streaming Media magazine identifies the one hundred companies that matter most in online video. Last week, Elemental was named to the 2012 Streaming Media 100 for the second consecutive year. Streaming Media’s panel of judges separated the stalwarts from the upstarts, identifying the companies "that continue to innovate and grow not just their customer base but the industry as a whole." To be certain, it’s an honor to be included, but what does that mean – to matter?

To the readers, it is a reminder: vote. The power to rank and recommend these companies lies in the Streaming Media Reader’s Choice Awards. Vote before October 15, and remember to confirm your vote when Streaming Media sends an email verification. Elemental is nominated for four awards including:

  • Encoding Software (Enterprise Class)
  • Hardware Encoder (On Demand)
  • Hardware Encoder (Live)
  • Multi-Screen/OTT Solution for Content Publishers

To the editors, it is a map. These broadcasters, content publishers, and related service providers build the world of sports, news and entertainment media. All roam the streaming video landscape. 

To the nominee, it is a cheer. Elemental wins with each customer we connect to next. With that, we hope to see you next at Streaming Media West, October 30-31, in Los Angeles, where we will be speaking about Best Practices for Migrating to a Cloud-Based Encoding Platform (like Elemental Cloud). If you can’t make it to the show, perhaps we can meet at another industry event coming up soon.

Finally, to this blog, your attention makes it matter. Thank you.

Elemental Streams the Olympic Games with Broadcasters Worldwide

Submitted by Lisa on July 16, 2012 - 00:00

Today Elemental proudly announced it is serving up Olympic streams for some of the most recognizable names in broadcast and media entertainment. The BBC in the UK, Terra in Latin America, Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium and Eurosport are among the broadcasters using Elemental gear to create and distribute video of the 2012 Summer Games. A record number of viewers around the globe will experience the first truly digital Olympics by accessing live and VOD content on PCs, laptops, tablets, mobile phones and other smart devices.

Elemental Olympics Coverage MapThe BBC plans to stream 2,500 hours of the Olympic Games using Elemental® Live and to provide its audience with up to 24 alternative live HD streams from which to choose. The BBC will also use Elemental Live to encode and archive events that can be easily transitioned into video on-demand (VOD) assets for streaming catch-up TV to viewers in the UK. Similarly, Eurosport and Terra plan full spectrum coverage of the 17-day event. CTV in Canada plans to distribute up to 15 streams of live coverage daily and to supply ample on-demand and highlight packages on a variety of connected platforms. Transnational streams, as well as video destined for audiences in the US and in Japan, will also run through Elemental gear.

Elemental partner NVIDIA points out that when all is said and done, Elemental expects up to a billion viewers of its streaming content during the Games. In addition to thousands of hours of live coverage, Elemental will encode and archive video for on-demand highlights and other assets for time-shifted viewing. "These numbers spell complexity. They involve a wide variety of use cases, video codecs, resolutions, screen sizes, and other specifications. As the engines powering Elemental’s streaming service, NVIDIA GPUs will help transform that complexity into a great viewing experience," writes Michael Steele, who manages strategic alliances at NVIDIA.

The responsibility for the multiscreen delivery of an event like the Olympics is not the work of a single company, a single broadcaster or a single technology. But it can be argued that Elemental is behind more of the streams, to more of the people, and more target devices than any other encoding supplier. To learn more about the different ways broadcasters are planning to stream Olympic content, as well as Elemental's role in bringing the Olympics to a screen near you, check out the project brief available on the Elemental website.

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