Learning by Teaching

While in elementary school, I remember a teacher once wrote on the board:
You learn 8% of what you read,
you learn 12% of what you hear,
you learn 25% of what you write,
you learn 90% of what you teach.

The concept of learning by teaching has stuck with me throughout the years and has been re-inforced through my tutoring in high-school, joining study groups as an undergrad student, and later developing controls curriculum at Quanser. But how true the words of my teacher are I realized only as a Teaching Assistant of a controls lab at Queen's University. As a part of my Masters degree, I spent a term TA-ing a 4th year Robotics course at Queen's. The lab component of the course was based on Quanser's rotary family of experiments, which - incidentally - I had spent my first year at Quanser developing.

Even after specializing in controls during undergrad, I always say that it wasn't until my time at Quanser that I really learnt controls. It was while working on controls curriculum to pedagogically guide students through a control system experiment where I really needed to understand and learn control theory - once again, it was learning by teaching. And it was only years later, being a teaching Assistant at Queen's and actually delivering that same curriculum to the 4th year students, when my expertise truly took hold. it was also during this brief stint as a Teaching Assistant that I could benefit from the feedback provided by students - another form of learning by teaching, and bring back their comments to improve Quanser controls curriculum in general.

What I noticed during the Robotics course was that the students would benefit from more time spent playing with the experiment and trial-error type of work. However, there might not be enough time during the lab for that. What we can do instead is give that time to the students during pre-lab. The new version of Quanser's real-time control software QuaRC 2.0 has powerful visualization tools - why not to use the power of QuaRC and add a pre-lab component that would visually and dynamically represent Quanser's experiment. That way, students would get to the lab having a context and feel of the experiment and learn much more during the actual lab.

It's exciting to see how the principle of learning by teaching works for engineering team at Quanser. In our dynamic and multi-disciplinary group, every engineer brings certain expertise - to "teach" other team members, one must "learn" and understand his or her part. Working on multi-faceted projects, developing new controls experiments and refining existing labs and curriculae, we continue to improve the quality of our offerings as we are always learning by teaching.

QUARC: The QuaRC Tetralogy

In the past few months we talked about the new features and strengths of QUARC 2.0, the new version of our popular control systems design and development software. The diagram below succinctly captures QUARC’s characteristic strengths - and some of Quanser’s domains of expertise - and illustrates QUARC’s four pillars.

Namely, the QUARC tetralogy consists of:

1. A visual programming tool, like Simulink. As a Rapid Control Prototyping (RCP) tool that provides full open-architecture, this is what QUARC fully integrates with and generates real-time code from. This visual programming tool is used as a flexible development platform and to maximize user friendliness.


2. Multiple target Operating Systems (OS). The target OS, be it either a pseudo- or hard-real-time operating system is where the QUARC-generated code is run. Currently, QUARC models run under 32-bit Windows, Linux, QNX, and INtime (to be available soon).
   
   QuaRC-generated models are optimized for robust and real-time (i.e., deterministic) performance, by strictly adhering, for example, to a true multi-rate and multi-threaded design, or by taking advantage of multi-core CPUs (CPU affinity support).


3. Hardware interfacing. QUARC allows interfacing to actual hardware in a real-time fashion by utilizing the Quanser’s HIL API and by supporting a growing number of third-party devices.
   
   The Quanser’s Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) API is a generic, card-independent, and extensible API. It is detailed in our QuaRC: Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) Card Support and HIL API post.
   
   As a complement to the HIL API, QuaRC also supports a wide variety of third-party-vendor sensors, devices, and robots, as described in our QuaRC: Third-Party Device Support article.


4. Communication capabilities. QUARC implements a very flexible and powerful communication framework that allows for carrying out standard communication not only between QuaRC models, but also and especially between a QuaRC model and an external third-party application.
   
   The cornerstone of QuaRC’s communication capabilities is the Quanser’s Stream API, which is a generic, protocol-independent, and extensible communication API. Please refer to the QuaRC: Communication Capabilities and Framework article for a more detailed description.

Quanser Qball-X4 with iPod controller!

Our new Qball-X4 UAV has been flying autonomously or using a standard 4-channel joystick for some time now. We decided we wanted to fly the Qball-X4 with something a little less conventional: an iPod. Using QUARC, Quanser's real-time control software, and our stream communications API, we are able to interface an iPod and read the accelerometer measurements and user inputs directly into a Simulink model. Our Qball-X4 flight stabilization controller is also implemented in MATLAB Simulink using QuaRC, which allows the generated code to be downloaded and executed on-board the vehicle. Once we added the iPod inputs to our Qball-X4 model, it was simple to compile the controller and start flying.

The video below shows a test flight of the Qball-X4 we performed recently using the iPod's accelerometers to control the roll and pitch commands to the vehicle with one pilot, while the second pilot controls the throttle and the yaw. We are working on an iPod controller that only requires one pilot to fly the vehicle, but this test was a very interesting way to combine a new human interface with an existing vehicle controller.

Note: Qball-X4 is slated for release in spring 2010.

Happy Halloween - with a bit of engineering

We are engineers - even when it comes to pumpkins. Seventeen pieces of art, including a virtual one, were entered into Quanser 2009 Pumpkin Challenge by our engineers.

Happy Halloween from Quanser!

1st prize for Julio's Corona Extra


2nd prize - Herve's masterpiece


3rd prize - Amin's MacQuanser


3rd prize - Max is haunted by pirates


3rd prize - Lisa can always see the bright side


Special Marketing award for Patrick's Q


And the Engineering Award for Derek

QUARC: Third-Party Device Support

In addition to being able to access hardware via Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) cards by using the familiar Simulink environment, as described in previous blog post, QuaRC also allows users to interact directly with third-party devices in a real-time fashion.

QUARC supports a wide variety of third-party-vendor devices, which can be categorized essentially into 3 main device families:

1. Sensors & Human Interface Devices (HIDs)


2. Haptic input devices


3. Robot arms

This support goes above and beyond Quanser’s very own devices as well as the standard PC peripherals, like keyboards, mice, game controllers (i.e., joysticks), or force-feedback game controllers, that QUAC also supports.

Also the nature of the interface used by any one of the QUARC-supported devices to connect to a QUARC target system (e.g., Windows 32-bit PC, QNX PC, Linux Gumstix Verdex) is almost as diverse as the types of devices supported. The interfaces used include, but are not limited to, USB, FireWire (IEEE 1394), serial (e.g., RS-232, TTL, SPI), PS2, and network (e.g., TCP/IP, UDP, ARCNET, bluetooth).

We are often asked what the actual devices currently supported by QUARC exactly are. Even though this list is continuously growing, the following summarizes the third-party devices to which Simulink-compatible blocks are offered by our upcoming version of QUARC, QUARC 2.0.

However, a device supported under one QuaRC target (e.g., 32-bit Windows) might not be supported for another QuaRC target (e.g., Linux), due to, for example, connectivity or third-party driver compatibility issues. Any QuaRC target restriction is specified in-between square brackets below.

QUARC 2.0 supports the following sensors and Human Interface Devices (HIDs).

• NaturalPoint OptiTrack motion capture and tracking camera system [win32 only]


• Point Grey Research (PGR) camera, e.g., Dragonfly2, Firefly MV [win32 only]


• GPS sensors, e.g., NMEA and Ublox


• Nintendo Wiimote [win32 only]


• SparkFun Electronics SerAccel triple-axis RS-232 accelerometer

QUARC 2.0 also supports the following haptic (i.e., position sensing and force feedback) input devices.

• SensAble PHANTOM Omni (6-DOF sensing, 3-DOF actuated), [win32 only]


• SensAble PHANTOM Desktop (6-DOF sensing, 3-DOF actuated), [win32 only]


• SensAble PHANTOM Premium devices (6-DOF sensing, 3-DOF actuated), [win32 only]


• SensAble PHANTOM Premium 6DOF devices (6-DOF), [win32 only]


• Novint Falcon (3-DOF), [win32 only]

QUARC supports the following multiple-DOF serial robot arms and robotic devices as well. By doing so, QUARC makes these robots Open Architecture (OA), which is to say that their Cartesian or joint position or rate commands can be individually set, as configured in your Simulink diagram, together with any customized advanced robotic control schemes.

• KUKA robots, e.g., KUKA KR 5 sixx R850 (6-DOF)


• Mitsubishi PA10 (6- or 7-DOF), [win32 only]


• Thermo CRS A465 (6-DOF)


• Thermo CRS CataLyst (CAT5) (5-DOF)


• Schunk Gripper (1-DOF industrial robotic end-effector), [win32 only]

QUARC is designed to meet the continually-increasing demand for interactive systems. For example, the power of QUARC is really harnessed when users easily couple one of its supported haptic input devices to one of its supported robot arms and quickly setup, in a Simulink diagram, a fully customizable teleoperation system.

Please stay tuned for announcements on additional third-party device support as well as for added QUARC support for Quanser’s very own new and exciting products, like the novel Quanser USB-Qbit and QPID boards.

A Week at the MICCAI Conference

I was in the UK last week where the Imperial College of London was hosting the 12^th International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI 2009). This is where clinicians, computer scientists , bioscientists, , engineers, and other researchers gather every year to share their innovations in the field of medical robotics, medical image processing and computer assisted intervention. Beside the major focus on advances of image acquisition and computation at the MICCAI conference, robotic assisted surgery has attracted huge attention in the recent years. Robots can provide the surgeons with unprecedented precision, dexterity, and minimally invasive techniques. They can increase the quality of the operation while reducing the time of the operation and patient recovery. Image information from a wide range of sensor data can be integrated into such systems to equip the surgeon with enhanced vision capabilities and feedback system.

From Left : Professor Guang-Zhong Yang (Imperial College), Amin Abdossalami (Quanser), Keith Blanchet(Quanser).

Quanser’s great expertise in haptics and teleoperation has resulted in the design and development of such well-known general purpose robotic manipulators as High Definition Haptic Device HD2 and Haptic Wand. At MICCAI 2009, Quanser was invited to present its latest haptic devices, the HD2. This system has a high accuracy position measurement and a relatively large workspace. It can provide the operator with precise force feedbacks ranging from the reaction force of a brain tissue to the stiffness of a tooth. In addition, the device end-effector can be easily modified for a versatile range of applications. All these characteristics make the HD2 capable enough to be used for such applications as virtual training simulators, collaborative haptics, rehabilitation, or it can even act as either a master or slave robot in a telesurgery setup. Using our real-time software QuaRC we designed some surgical simulations to demonstrate the capabilities of our HD2 and its programming software. Quanser’s HD2 along with its real-time software QuaRC and our other booth material attracted a lot of interest from both clinicians and engineers during the MICCAI conference.

Quanser Booth in MICCAI 2009

Below, our blog followers can read about some presentations from other companies participating in the exhibition.

One of the FDA approved systems which is extensively being used for robotic surgery is the da Vinci made by Intuitive. In the following video a second generation of the da Vinci systems with three surgical arms is presented.

SenseGraphics was another exhibiting company in the MICCAI. Below, you can see their presentation of their 3D display setup.

In the following video Dr. Rodriguez from Imperial College is presenting part of their fascinating research in the field of developing new brain probes.

In the following video you can see some interesting 3D spatial tracking systems developed by NDI.

And last but not least are some cool products from INITION in the field of 3D displays.

Budapest Under Control

In August 2009, Hungarian capitol Budapest got under control as academics and researchers from around the globe gathered for the 10^th European Control Conference (ECC 2009). Presentation topics spanned from high theory of “Approximate Zeros of Polynomial Matrices and Linear Systems” to the latest developments in unmanned systems, like “Coordination Strategies between UAV and AUVs for Ocean Exploration”.

From the start to the end of the conference we were kept very busy with many inquires from ECC attendees representing all disciplines of controls. Luckily, with the help of our distributor in UK and Germany, Adept Scientific we were able to answer them all. The Active Suspension created a lot of hands-on interest and questions while our videos attracted interest from all faucets of control engineering from haptics to unmanned systems. Actually, there was a great interest in our unmanned aerial and ground vehicles technology as demonstrated in the videos - a number of ECC attendees are heavily involved in this area of education and research.

We also re-connected with some attendees that are already using Quanser equipment in their Universities and post grads that had used Quanser equipment in the past and recognized this when we met. They were eager to learn more of what Quanser had to offer as they were very satisfied with our products. We had some very flattering conversations to say the least and the presentation of our new products really created a lot of excitement.

If you are a “Controls” person then ECC is definitely the conference to attend. The conference takes place every 2 years and Quanser will be there in 2011 for sure.

- Stephen Frank -