Eberly Center

A Portable Laboratory for Dynamic Systems and Controls

Bedillion, M.

Dynamic systems and control systems applications are ubiquitous in daily life, and are increasingly in the public consciousness with the rise of self-driving cars.  While practical applications in robotics often draw students to take elective classes in the area, the way these courses are structured often leads to a highly theoretical rather than a practical treatment of the subject.  Students are exposed to real world applications in a laboratory environment, but those experiences are limited in number and are sometimes not well aligned with the lecture material. The focus of this project is the development of an Arduino-based portable control laboratory that can be used to incorporate practical dynamic systems and controls experiments.  Using low-cost hardware and a Matlab-based user interface, hands-on activities can introduced into the classroom, and more importantly, make their way into the homework. This approach allows theory and practice to advance hand-in-hand, leading to a more thorough mastery of the material. While this demonstration will focus on applications in dynamic systems and controls courses, the hardware / software platforms can be used to interact with many common sensors and actuators.

Mark Bedillion, Mechanical Engineering CIT