This article explains how to use PID controllers to solve a real-world balance problem. We need to calculate PID gains to do so. Let’s examine real-life balance problems with ACROME's Ball Balancing Table and Ball and Beam.
Control engineering is a branch of mechanical, electrical, and software engineering that deals with the design and application of control systems. The control engineering department has bachelor's programs (generally 4-year education) as well as master's and Ph.D. programs as well. As an engineering discipline, the graduates are titled as Control Engineers.
Robotics labs are educational environments that support the growth of experienced professionals who will operate in this industry as well as environments where robotics research can advance to improve our quality of life.
There are a lot of methods for controlling the system manually and automatically. The most well-known automatic control methods are logic control, on-off control, and PID control. In this article, we will talk generally about automatic control systems, but especially the PID control systems.
Mechatronics, also called mechatronics engineering, which literally means "technology combining electronics and mechanical engineering" , is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering that focuses on the integration of mechanical, electronic and electrical engineering systems, and also includes a combination of robotics, electronics, computer science, telecommunications, systems, control, and product engineering.
At the age of technology, the usage of robotics knowledge in higher education is only to be expected. There are even initiatives launched by certain national education authorities on the issue and they aim to incorporate robotics-based projects into new curricula. These initiatives, however, are far from successful since the robotics knowledge remains peripheral to the chief study plans and continues to be apart of the extra curricular or summer activities.
The Delta robot is a tool that will be useful for students and strengthen your robotics and automation labs. It is also the most productive tool for understanding parallel kinematic robotic fundamentals without barriers. As much as it looks aesthetic with delta robot design, it has already started to be used in many sectors since the technology started to develop.
The ball balancing table (BBT in short) plays a very important role in mechatronics and robotics. Also, control theory is a very important concept in many parts of technology. Many models and developments have begun to emerge based on this theory. Just as each model is based on a theory, the ball balancing table is based on control theory. Balancing the ball placed on a table in the desired position is one of the most important examples of control theory.
The ball and beam system is a popular example in control theory. This robot is a very useful tool both for students to understand systems and for studies in engineering fields. The ball-and-beam system consists of a ball that rotates back and forth on a long beam that can be tilted by a servo or electric motor. Let's look a little further, at the ball-and-beam system.
The linear inverted pendulum (or linear pendulum, lin. pen for short) is a classical physics experiment used to explain the control theory and system dynamics. Therefore, it has been used as one of the primary systems used to test and compare control strategies. In an inverted pendulum system, which is an open-loop unstable system, it is desired to stabilize the system by reciprocating motion to stabilize it. It is also used as a common method for testing control algorithms.
In April 2021, our partner Altair Inc. hosted a unique student contest on digital-twin concept, where they selected our Ball Balancing Table as the main subject.
At ACROME, we are working towards achieving the goal of more “accessible controls, mechatronics, and robotics education." We are also witnessing the digital transformation of the traditional education systems under the umbrella of distance education.
In this article, we discuss the importance and place of repeatable experiments in science in addition to their numerous contributions to every part of our lives.
See Acrome's 6-DOF ACROBOT in action using multiple programming languages and Altair's Activate as the digital twin platform.
