## 1 Introduction  
### Background and Literature Review  
The need to control medatronic devices integrating hardware and software, both at an industrial level and in research prototypes, requires new solutions that simplify the design and testing tasks of the controller and its transfer to the control hardware. In addition, it is crucial to provide user-friendly tools to facilitate engineers' training in these new techniques. Increasing industry demand for STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) competencies require innovative teaching and development approaches in order to minimize the fragmented nature of higher education and provide a way to conciliate the different fields of knowledge, such as mathematics, informatics, or mechanics [1, 2]. Due to these demands, an affordable way to reach successful results in a constrained amount of time is to use high-abstraction-level programming tools, such as the ones provided via model-based design (MBD) methodology. National Instruments LabVIEW(r) and MATLAB/Simulink(r) are well-known MBD-based solutions. Other less-known solutions are Scicos and Scilab MBD-based systems [3]. In this work, an MDB system that developsMATLAB/Simulink blocks optimized for hardware in the loop concept is proposed. This system uses a workbench design to simplify the control of mechatronics devices.  
The MBD paradigm provides control algorithm developers and researchers with a rich development environment, where useful computer-assisted tools are available. Thanks to this support, they can develop and perform as many iterations on their control algorithm logic as they need, requiring little time per iteration. The high-level programming capability allows for the creation of extensive control programs and their rapid evaluation.  
By using these programming methodologies, control algorithm developers and researchers have access to more advanced control techniques, such as adaptive PID controllers. To satisfy increased robustness requirements, non-classic PID controllers are needed. The loss in robustness for PID controllers is due to the constant gain parameters used in their implementation, which are not suitable for aging systems. The aging of the controlled plant modifies the system's behavior over time. If a controller does not take into account this fact, the effectiveness and stability of the controller response could be compromised.  
The traditional development of mechatronic control systems usually uses hardware-in-the-loop (HIL)-enabled systems, especially those from companies such as dSpace and Typhoon [4; 5]. Consequently, hardware and software development from a traditional HIL perspective follows a very restrictive but well-established working methodology [6]. This methodology is highly time and resources consuming when developing a system that goes beyond the laboratory technology readiness level (TRL) and qualifies as a mature TRL of level 5-6.  
This article presents a software development environment based on custom MBD support, which facilitates the controller prototyping process for both industry and research. It allows for the development of high-end but low-cost embedded controllers, applied over mechatronic devices. In addition, the proposed method enables STEAM requirements; mathematics related to the control algorithm design are being correlated with the electronics and informatics knowledge required for the real implementation and testing of the controller.