Simulink meets Lego: Rapid controller prototyping of a stabilized bicycle model

The Lego Mindstorms series is a widespread robotics platform, already employed in many academic laboratories for educational purposes, which has recently obtained native support from another popular product, the Mathworks simulation environment Simulink. In this paper we show through a practical case of study how this combined platform is suitable for the fast developing of control projects inside a laboratory teaching activity, allowing students to focus on the core control design problems, rather than spending relevant time on implementation issues. To this aim, the NXT-bike project is presented, illustrating advantages and drawbacks encountered during the design of a stabilized bicycle Lego model, from the mechanical realization to the conclusive phases of model analysis, control design, and experimental validation.