Teaching control using NI Starter Kit Robot

Teaching engineering concepts using demonstrations and experiments on real hardware is always engaging and well received by students. This paper provides reference materials (both theoretical and test results), to be used in Control teaching and assessment using a laboratory experiment, with a real-time single board computer based robotic vehicle (National Instruments Robotics Starter Kit). This robotic vehicle is programmed using a graphical programming environment. The Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) algorithm based on Proportional-Integral (PI) and Proportional - Integral - Derivative (PID) Control are deployed on a field programmable gate array (FPGA), included in the robot´s architecture. The robot model (based on a given second order transfer function) is controlled using the same method. The results obtained are compared for the simulation model and a real robot. The performance comparison demonstrates a good correlation between theory and implementation, whilst demonstrating problems and discrepancies introduced by a real system.