Development of a low-cost platform for control engineering education

Author

Hung-Shiang Chuang ; Ying-Chun Chuang ; Chun-Hsiang Yang

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Kao Yuan Univ., Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Volume

2

fYear

2014

fDate

13-16 July 2014

Firstpage

444

Lastpage

448

Abstract

This paper introduces a low-cost platform using the LEGO Mindstorms NXT kit and the NXC software for teaching control theories in undergraduate courses. The total cost of the kit and the software is under $500, so it makes this combination a very cheap alternative for establishing a control systems laboratory. The platform can be used to demonstrate: 1) parameter identification technique; and 2) cross-coupled control. The experimental result shows that the proposed testbed can be viewed as an efficient tool for the education of control engineering as well as C programming language, robots, and digital signal processing with a minimum burden of time and cost.

Keywords

C language; computer aided instruction; control engineering education; educational courses; educational robots; further education; teaching; C programming language; LEGO Mindstorm NXT kit; NXC software; control engineering education; control system laboratory; control theory teaching; cross-coupled control; digital signal processing; low-cost platform; parameter identification technique; undergraduate courses; Abstracts; DC motors; MATLAB; Universal Serial Bus; Cross-coupled control; LEGO Mindstorms NXT kit; Parameter identification technique;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Machine Learning and Cybernetics (ICMLC), 2014 International Conference on

Conference_Location

Lanzhou

ISSN

2160-133X

Print_ISBN

978-1-4799-4216-9

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICMLC.2014.7009649

Filename

7009649