NASA scientists used such a remote system to control the Pathfinder mission on Mars from around the world. Back at Rice, among the Swiss robots Rice students can control are an inverted pendulum, an electrical drive system and the toy copter, a laboratory helicopter. All three systems are used to illustrate basic concepts in control system theory and dynamical system theory and are directly related to concepts taught in the classroom, Ghorbel says. For example, the inverted pendulum is an example of a system with an unstable equilibrium. With a few careless commands, the pendulum swings wildly back and forth, while moving to the left and right in an attempt to balance itself.
Students try different techniques to stabilize it.
The electromechanical drive system has transmission attributes such as backlash, flexibility and friction that are present in industrial drives. Students can learn about these concepts in a simple laboratory system and get some training in their control, Ghorbel says. And, it's possible that companies manufacturing devices such as the electromechanical drive could use the educational lab as a remote testing site or for feedback on their product's performance. The initial program has been funded by the Brown Foundation through the Brown Teaching Grant Program, the Office of the Dean of Engineering, and the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. Ghorbel hopes to expand the program into a full-fledged Internet Remotely Operated Robotics and Control Systems Laboratory.