Build a World-Class, Multi-Station, Undergrad Lab on a Budget

If you wanted to teach people the fundamentals of how to drive and had to buy new cars to support your business, what would be the most sensible purchase: several low cost compact cars, or one large, high performance vehicle that costs as much as the compact cars put together? Of course the answer is obvious.

That kind of simple, cost-effective thinking is what drove Quanser to design the new QUBE™-Servo, a low cost, self-contained servomotor solution for teaching introductory control in undergraduate labs. For about the cost of a single Quanser flagship Rotary Servo SRV02 base unit with a data acquisition device (DAQ), amplifier and assorted add-on experiment modules, a professor or engineering department can acquire as many as six QUBE-Servo workstations.

So, if your goal is simply to teach students “how to drive”, then a lab equipped with several QUBE-Servo stations allows you to introduce them to controls efficiently. If you need the benefits of modularity or plan to teach more advanced control topics and conduct research the SRV02-based system is the more suitable option. 

The QUBE-Servo features a self-contained USB-based DAQ interface panel (or an available direct I/O interface panel) and amplifier that can interface to LabVIEW™ or MATLAB®/Simulink® – based control software, plus two add-on experiment modules and courseware. The result: a superb multi-station, hands-on teaching lab for a surprisingly small outlay.

    Six QUBE Rotary Servo Workstations               One Rotary SRV02 Workstation

Get as many as six QUBE Rotary Servo workstations for approximately the same price as one Rotary SRV02-based workstation.

The compact QUBE-Servo offers any engineering university a new control theory teaching tool and new economies of scale. It offers advantages to schools both in developing nations and industrialized nations, since its affordability makes it an ideal way to give large numbers of students a practical, hands-on introduction to control design.

With its built-in DAQ and amplifier, and single USB cable to connect to a PC or laptop computer, it’s simple for inexperienced students to set up and use. The fact that it has a small footprint, is robust and safe to use are additional advantages that deans and professors can appreciate.

The low cost, self-contained QUBE-Servo is supplied with inertia disk and pendulum modules.

QUBE-Servo and SRV02: What’s the Difference?

The QUBE-Servo is not a replacement for the multi-purpose SRV02 Rotary Servo, any more than a compact car can outperform a high performance sports car. Their uses overlap to a degree, but they are not the same. The SRV02 Rotary Servo accepts many more add-on modules. It is highly reconfigurable and therefore suitable for research applications as well as teaching. The QUBE is, in fact, a complement to the SRV02, both functionally and economically, and can take its place alongside the SRV02 in any university control lab. 

Just as compact cars have an important place within the pool of vehicles you’ll find at driving school, a suite of compact QUBE-Servos constitute a pragmatic choice for teaching the basics of control. Any engineering institution that seeks to bring enhanced, hands-on learning experience to more and more of their students might wish to consider a test drive.

For details on pricing for a multi-station QUBE-Servo lab, contact Quanser.

Flexible QUBE-Servo Courseware Designed To Support Different Controls Courses

Modern, modular, flexible – that’s a simple, three word summary of the new generation courseware now available for the new QUBE-Servo rotary servo experiment.

From this courseware, professors can take the teaching materials they need, then mix and match them to support the controls topics they’re addressing in their individual courses.

The new QUBE-Servo Rotary Servo Experiment comes with a new generation of mix and match, rich media courseware for easy integration into professors' specific controls courses.

Such flexibility means professors aren’t tied to any predetermined teaching sequence. They can teach their controls courses their way. All they have to do is select any of the provided QUBE-Servo experiments and insert it anywhere within their existing controls course.

The courseware is ABET-aligned and come in rich, multiple formats so the relevant materials can be easily added to a professor’s course notes and lectures. Also included is a convenient textbook mapping guide that allows professors to match control topics to specific chapters from the most popular control engineering textbooks. 

All these features mean professors can bring richer teaching material to their controls courses, while also saving themselves valuable prep time. Win, win! 

To learn more about the QUBE-Servo’s new courseware, watch the video.

 

QUBE-Servo Courseware Can Be Adjusted to Enhance Control Courses

As regular readers of this blog know, Quanser has just introduced the QUBE™-Servo, our new, low cost, integrated rotary servo experiment that gives professors a cost-effective way to teach introductory controls. But with the compact QUBE-Servo, we are also introducing a brand new way of delivering the Quanser courseware that accompanies our experiments. 

This new way involves a modular and topic-oriented approach that acknowledges that every professor’s controls course is different. It allows a professor to select any experiment within the provided courseware that they find relevant to the control topic they’re teaching, and insert it anywhere within their existing controls course. Instead of tying a professor to a prescribed path where one experiment must follow another in a predetermined sequence, the QUBE-Servo’s modular courseware gives professors the opportunity to enhance their courseware to best suit their individual course and their students. Of course, professors still have the option of teaching the experiments in sequence pre-defined by Quanser if they wish. 

New Application Lab Improves the Learning Experience 

A special feature of the courseware is an application lab, a segment that applies a control topic students have learned to a real-life control application. In this way the theory they studied will come to life as a real-world system they can relate to. For example, once students have progressed through a lab sequence centred around speed control, they can apply their new skills to the problem of automotive cruise control. This application gives students an immediate appreciation for the relevance of the topics and methods that they are studying.

Diverse Teaching Materials and Rich Media Enhance Courses and Reduce Prep Time

The ABET-aligned courseware includes a wealth of teaching material: QUBE-Servo control experiments with theoretical and practical hands-on components,  mathematical system models, lecture slides, ABET assessment and a courseware outline, to assist professors in adapting the courseware to professors’ syllabuses and additional content related to engineering education and research.

To save professors prep time and make the QUBE-Servo teaching materials even more convenient to use, we developed a comprehensive textbook mapping guide. It allows professors to match topics within the QUBE-Servo courseware to specific chapters from the most popular control engineering textbooks in use today, such as Control Systems Engineering by Norman S. Nise and Modern Control Engineering by K. Ogata.

The mix and match, rich media QUBE-Servo courseware can be easily accessed
and adapted to professors' individual controls courses. 

QUBE-Servo courseware is offered in many popular digital formats such as PDFs, Powerpoint files, Rich Text Format (RTF) files, and LaTeX files. The RTF, LaTeX and Powerpoint files are open, so instructors can simply copy and paste content into their own course notes and lectures.

The low cost QUBE-Servo rotary servo experiment offers engineering educators a smart, cost-effective way to teach controls to undergraduates. Its mix and match, rich media courseware adds to its value. They work together to enhance a professors’ effectiveness, and at the same time demonstrate Quanser’s continuing commitment to offering engineering educators the comprehensive controls solutions their students need.

Download the courseware sample to learn what topics you can teach using the QUBE-Servo experiment.

Introducing the QUBE Servo – a Streamlined, Cost-Effective Way to Teach Introductory Controls

Imagine the well known high quality of a Quanser rotary servo motor experiment that is smaller than our flagship rotary servo base unit. Imagine this new experiment features fully integrated components instead of external, plug-in peripherals. Imagine it is remarkably simple for students to use. Now go further and imagine it comes with proven courseware that helps professors teach some of the same fundamental control principles as the Rotary Servo Base Unit.

Interesting? Engineering educators we’ve spoken with have replied with a resounding “yes”. But here’s the most interesting feature about the compact new rotary servo—its cost, which because of its simplicity and compactness is significantly lower than our traditional Rotary Servo Base Unit, in fact low enough to make Quanser’s hands-on approach to teaching controls an affordable choice for virtually any educational institution in the world, no matter what the local economic pressures are. This new solution is called the QUBE-Servo. It will be available from Quanser later this spring.

The QUBE-Servo is designed for maximum simplicity and ease of use. When released, it will feature two add-on modules, the inertia wheel and the inverted pendulum.

A Budget-Friendly Solution that Upgrades Your Controls Lab

Engineering schools around the world face real funding challenges. As strong as those challenges are for institutions in North America and Europe, they can be daunting for schools in the developing world. Consequently, teaching solutions that are both cost-efficient and effective are needed more than ever.

The low cost QUBE-Servo is Quanser’s new turn-key solution to help engineering institutions and educators meet this need. Budget-challenged professors can now outfit their labs with control technology that’s notable for its high quality, ease of use, small footprint and safety, all in a cost effective way. Students will derive a deep learning experience from the QUBE’s hands-on experiments and courseware that allow them to make the connection between their classroom studies to the real world applications and problems they want to solve. 

Teach Fundamental Control Concepts, Lab by Lab

Upon release in the spring, the QUBE-Servo will be available with two add-on control modules—the inertia wheel and the inverted pendulum—plus full courseware for both. For the inertia control wheel experiment, students learn first-principle derivation, experimental derivation, transfer function representation, stability analysis, model validation and PD. For the inverted pendulum experiment, students learn state-space representation, balance control, optimal LQR control design, energy-based swing-up control.

A Brief Technical Tour

The QUBE-Servo is a fully integrated plant, with USB-based data acquisition system and amplifier all in one. It comes with two add-on modules that quick-connect to it magnetically. It features one USB 2.0 port that connects to a PC or laptop. No tools or additional cabling are required. The integrated components are fully supported by our Rapid Control Prototyping Toolkit software add-on for LabVIEW™ and our own QUARC® rapid control prototyping software. The data acquisition card has two encoder inputs for the motor itself and for whichever module you connect to it, as well as an analog output to control the motor itself. The PWM-based amplifier has been designed specifically for the QUBE’s motor. The QUBE can also be ordered with a Direct I/O interface that allows the QUBE to be connected directly to an external DAQ.

Instead of separate, plug-in peripherals, the QUBE Rotary Servo contains a fully-integrated plant, USB-based data acquisition system and amplifier, all-in-one. Its dimensions (L x W x H) are 102 mm x 102 mm x 118 mm.

Differences between the QUBE-Servo and the Rotary Servo

The flagship Rotary Servo Base Unit is designed to be extremely versatile and reconfigurable. It accommodates an extensive system of add-on experiment modules, amplifiers and data acquisition boards. To run an experiment you first select and externally connect the data acquisition board and amplifier you need, along with the rotary plant that you’re actually going to use. Such reconfigurability is particularly useful if you need a flexible lab, or if you are sharing lab equipment across departments with different needs.  The Rotary Servo Base Unit currently accepts ten add-on experiment modules and has the bandwidth and robustness needed to validate simple to advanced control algorithms developed by researchers in a variety of application fields and scenarios.

The QUBE-Servo provides maximum simplicity and ease of use.  Its major components are already integrated into one unit and are not designed to be reconfigured or “swapped out”. Two add-on modules will be immediately available for the QUBE: the inertia wheel and the inverted pendulum. Both allow professors to teach some of the same fundamental control concepts as the equivalent modules on the Rotary Servo Base Unit. 

The QUBE-Servo will be available this spring. To find out the release date, please contact Abdullah Dhooma, Product Marketing Engineer at Quanser.

Real Quanser Robot = Readiness for Real World Engineering

Dr. Stephen Mascaro of the University of Utah is focused on preparing his students to apply control theory to real-world applications.

Dr. Stephen Mascaro of the University of Utah wanted the students in his Robotic Control course to gain hands-on experience controlling a real robot. He also wanted to prepare his students to apply the control theory they were learning to real-world applications. Working with Quanser to develop a 2 DOF Serial Robot, he achieved both aims. Dr. Mascaro describes his work below. Watch the videos from his lab and see the robot in action for yourself.

This video shows Quanser's 2 DOF Serial Robot mimicking an industrial robot quickly
and repeatedly executing predefined trajectories.

“The first video mimics an industrial robot repeatedly executing predefined trajectories quickly and accurately, similar to placing chips on a circuit board," says Dr. Mascaro. "The faster the robot can place the chip while maintaining specified accuracy, the more the factory can increase their throughput.”

This video shows a master-slave teleoperation aimed at achieving the
precision required in surgery.

"The second video relates to surgical robots and shows a master-slave teleoperation aimed at achieving the precision required in surgery. Using a master - slave pair of robots, a doctor can manipulate the master robot using large scale motions, while the slave robot mimics the motions of the master on a smaller and more precise scale in order to perform the surgical operation, filtering out any vibrations or tremors from the doctor's motion. The forces experienced by the slave can be amplified and fed back to the master so the doctor can feel an enhanced version of what the slave robot is feeling.”



This video shows two robots using infrared sensors to interact as leader-follower.
In the real world, such an interaction would allow leader-follower robots
to travel over uncertain terrain.

“The third video applies to field robotics, in which two robots use infrared sensors to interact as leader-follower and travel together over uncertain terrain." Dr. Mascaro continues: "The slave robot must be capable of following its own trajectory, but should adjust its trajectory based on its relative distance from the master robot. Applications for this robot include any sort of sensing and detection in a difficult terrain or an inhospitable environment.”

Dr. Mascaro is pleased with what his robot control lab, with the new 2DOF Serial Robot, can offer his students. "We have a modern robotics lab that can provide all our students plenty of hands-on time with the robots," he says, "so they can more easily turn control theory into practice. As a result, my students are better prepared to tackle real-world applications and research in the future.”

If you have some innovative ideas to make your lab more engaging and relevant to the real world, tell us what you have in mind. Perhaps Quanser can help make it a reality.

Teach Control Virtually Anywhere with New Text from Norman Nise

Control Systems Engineering by Norman S. Nise is the most wildly adopted textbook for core control courses in mechanical, electrical and other engineering programs. The sixth edition, which is releasing in 2011, offers a dynamic new feature: 10 virtual experiments from Quanser. The experiments are powered by LabVIEW and allow students to manipulate Quanser's simulated lab plants and view realistic response behavior. The virtual experiments will help deepen students' homework learning experience and help them prepare for the actual lab work.

For a limited time, you can request a complimentary copy of the text. But first, here's more information about the virtual experiments supplied with the textbook:

Automobile Suspension allows to explore the dynamics of a two degree of freedom system — an automobile suspension system driving over a bumpy road — demonstrated with the Quanser Active Suspension system modeled in LabVIEW.

With Open-Loop Servo Motor students can explore the dynamics of the Quanser Rotary Servo system modeled in LabVIEW. It is particularly important to know how a servo motor behaves when using them in high-precision applications such as hard disk drives.

Rotary Inverted Pendulum simulates the linear and non-linear model of the Quanser Rotary Inverted Pendulum in LabVIEW. The behavior of an inverted pendulum is similar to a variety of systems, such as Segway transporters and human posture.

First-Order Open-Loop Systems teach students how to find a first-order transfer function representing the Quanser Rotary Servo, then validate the model by simulating it in LabVIEW. Servo motors are used in mechatronic gadgets such as cameras.

Second-Order System Response experiment allows to observe the effect that natural frequency and damping ratio have on controlling the speed response of the Quanser Linear Servo in LabVIEW. The concept is applicable to automobile cruise control or speed control of a train or subway.

Position Control Gain Design teaches how to design the position control gain for the Quanser Linear Servo and simulate its closed-loop response in LabVIEW. This concept is used, for instance, to control a rover exploring the terrain of a planet.

With the Stability experiment students learn how to evaluate the stability of the Quanser Linear Inverted Pendulum in LabVIEW. When in the upward balanced position, this system addresses the challenge of stabilizing a rocket during take-off. In the downward position it emulates the construction gantry crane.

Steady-State Error experiment teaches how to find the steady-state error of the Quanser Rotary Servo when subject to an input or a disturbance by simulating it in LabVIEW. This analysis becomes important when developing controllers for bottle labeling machines or robot joint control.

PD Controller Design experiment uses root-locus to design a PD controller for the Quanser Ball and Beam using LabVIEW. The Ball and Beam is an unstable system, similar to exothermic chemical processes that have to be stabilized to avoid overheating.

Improving Transient Response and Steady-State Error Using Rate Feedback and PI Control teaches students how to design a compensator in LabVIEW that controls the ball position in the Quanser Magnetic Levitation system. Magnetic Levitation technology is used for modern transportation systems that suspend, such as the high speed Magnetic Levitation train.

The new edition of the text is published by John Wiley and Sons and will be available for purchase through them in 2011. If you would like to review a complimentary copy of the text, please contact us at info@quanser.com. For more information about Quanser's real control plants and modules, please visit our website.

Quanser's Enduring Hero

For the past 20 years, students at hundreds of universities have been learning control theory while doing experiments with the SRV02 - the base unit of Quanser's Rotary Family. This simple experiment has many different add-ons, full curriculum for experiments, and is open-architecture. Over 17 experiments can be performed with the rotary family and researchers are starting to use it more as an experimental platform.

In this video, you get to see the SRV02 up close and learn about what makes it so special.

Video credits to Sunny Ray - director and cinematographer.

QUARC: Virtual Plant Demo - SRV02 Self-Erecting Inverted Pendulum

True to Quanser’s learning-by-doing philosophy, the QUARC built-in demonstrations, as previously described in our QUARC: Learning By Doing post, have now been augmented in QUARC 2.0.

Amongst other added features, QUARC 2.0 includes a demonstration of Quanser’s first Virtual Plant (VP), consisting of a realistic visual and dynamic representation of Quanser’s actual SRV02 Self-Erecting Inverted Pendulum Control Challenge system. This built-in VP example simulates the dynamics and control of the corresponding Quanser actual plant and animates the experiment in full 3D realism in real-time. As usual with Quanser’s experiments, the closed-loop controller is fully open-architecture and implemented in Simulink, with all the system parameters being accessible and tunable.

Request a free demo license now. Here's what you can expect - watch this video and read on!
(video also available on YouTube)

Starting the model automatically opens the QUARC standalone 3D visualization window. The pendulum is initially in the downward position. The controller then uses an energy-based swing-up control scheme to swing the pendulum back and forth until it is close to the upright position. Once the pendulum is sufficiently close to upright and is not moving too quickly, the controller switches to a balancing control algorithm to maintain the pendulum in the vertical position. Once the pendulum is being balanced, the rotary arm is commanded using a generated square wave and the controller continues to balance the pendulum in the upright position, despite the movement of the supporting arm. Notice how the controller exhibits non-minimum phase behaviour to ensure that the pendulum does not fall when moving to the next arm position; in other words, it gives the arm an impulse in the wrong direction to get the pendulum leaning before moving the arm to the correct orientation.

If you have taken QUARC 2.0 for a test drive, you probably noticed how it can now act as a Virtual Plant Simulator (VPS) without hardware and also without Real-Time Workshop (RTW) (as the VP can be run in Simulink normal simulation mode)! Real-time operation is achieved by using the QUARC System Timebase block.

This demonstration also serves as another example of the powerful visualization capabilities provided with QUARC 2.0, including inheritance, specular lighting and fog. As a reminder, the QUARC 2.0 visualization module has been previously showcased in our Visualize Your Simulation and Quanser Visualization Blocks posts.

So what other best way is there to start the new year than to ask for a QUARC 2.0 demo license, try all these new possibilities firsthand and see it for yourself?

Flexible link with flexible possibilities

There are many real-world applications for controlling vibration.

Objects connected to the ground can usually damp out vibrations with relative ease. However, stick an object in space and vibration becomes a serious concern. Whenever an object is moved or stopped, the resulting vibrations need to be controlled or they may continue for long and undesirable periods of time.

One of the experiments in Quanser’s rotary collection is the Flexible Link - a stainless steel, ruler-like link with a strain gauge to measure deflection. The link is placed on a DC motor and can be used to simulate how it might react to different inputs and how a controller performs in damping the ensuing vibrations. When the experiments are running, it’s very clear to see how the controller performs.

On a recent visit of Dr. Bogdan Udrea and his students at Embry-Riddle University in Florida, the students tested out vibrations on the link and brought out a slow-motion video camera. See that link flex…

Dr. Yunjun Xu of the University of Central Florida has been using the flexible link to create a vision-based controller to limit vibrations and is getting amazing results. The videos below are from his lab and show no perceivable vibrations.

Without controller...

With controller turned on...

Learn more about the flexible link experiment here.

Hybrid Control of Inverted Pendulum with manual Wii swingup

This was done earlier today here at Quanser - our new rapid controls prototyping software QuaRC, has many new features - one of them being drag n' drop Simulink block support for the Nintendo Wii. Here we replaced the energy swing-up portion of the hybrid controller for a classic rotary inverted pendulum with manual control via the Wii.

2DOF Table

A new module for the Quanser's Rotary Family (SRV02) is coming out soon. It is our first experiment that uses vision system (integrating with Point Grey cameras) to control the movement of the table.

1. Table moves ball in a circular path

2. Table "catches" the ball and centers it

Customer Testimony - Prof. Dr. Galip Cansever, Yildiz Technical University

Prof. Dr. Galip CANSEVER
Yildiz Technical University, Electrical & Electronics Faculty
Department of Electrical Engineering – Control Systems Division
34349 Yildiz / ISTANBUL
Position : Dean of the Electrical & Electronics Faculty - YTU

Teaching and Research Areas
- Fuzzy Logic Control of Continuous Processes
- Adaptive Control for Industrial Control and Automation Applications
- Robust Control for Industrial Control and Automation Applications.
- PLC Applications for Automation Systems
- Building Automation Systems
- SCADA and Process Control Applications

Taught Classes

UNDERGRADUATE
- Digital Systems
- Design of Digital Systems
- Automatic Control
- Programmable Logic Controller
- Process Control and Instrumentation
- Microprocessors and Their Industrial Applications

POSTGRADUATE
- Instrumentation and System Control
- Fuzzy Logic Control and It’s Industrial Applications
- Dynamic Modelling of the Engineering Systems
- Petri Net Based Supervisor Design for Discrete Event Systems
- Machinery Automation
- Microcontroller Based Machine Control

Professional Affiliations
-Head of Control and Command Systems Division.
- Head of Control and Automation Program in Institute for Graduate Studies in Science and Engineering.
- Member of Advisory Board at the Journal of Elevator World
- Member of Publication Committee at the Journal of Industrial and Automation

The Advantages of the Quanser Plants:
We have obtained double inverted pendulum and ball – beam experimental setups from your products for our control system design laboratory. Your installation manual is very clear to understand and very helpful for us that’s why we didn’t run into any difficulties while we were installing the devices.

In addition to this your detailed documents for students and instructors about experimental work showed us a good way to prepare our laboratory hand-outs. Our instructors can do more than one experiment with same Quanser device by the flexibility feature of your devices. Therefore variety of our experiments was increased.

Also your plants are very suitable for advance users who are the students of our graduate programs. Their simulation results were came to experimental results by the help of your products.

To sum up Quanser products are very helpful to analyze the basic control problems. They filled all the gap of our control system laboratory like we thought. I wish you all the best in your works.

Selected Publications
- Ayça Gökhan AK, Galip Cansever,“ Fuzzy Sliding Mode Con tr oller with RBF Neural Network for Robotic Manipulator Trajectory Tracking” 16-19 August 2006 Kunming-China, International Conference on Intelligent Computing. Lecture Notes in Con tr ol and Information Sciences (LNCIS).
- Beril Karagenç, Nimet Gençoğlu, Mustafa Ersoy, Galip Cansever and Güven Külekçi“ A Comparison of four Different Microleakage tests for Assessment of Leakage of Root Canal Fillings ”, Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology, Oral Radiology, and Endodontology, In Pres.2006
- A. Delibasi, I. B. Kucukdemiral, G. Cansever, “A Novel Variable Structure Based Adaptive Control with Disturbance Estimation for an Anthropomorphic Robot Manipulator” (to appear)
- G. Cansever and I. B. Kucukdemiral, “A new approach to supervisor design with sequential control petri-net using minimization technique for discrete event system,” International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, vol. 29, pp. 1267–1277, 2006.
- I.B. Kucukdemiral, S.N. Engin, V.E. Omurlu, G. Cansever, “A Robust Single Input Adaptive Sliding Mode Fuzzy Logic Controller for Automotive - Active Suspension System”, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 3613, Jul 2005, pp.981 - 986
- Seydi Vakkas ÜSTÜN , Galip CANSEVER, “ Tuning of PI Controller Coefficients Using Genetic Algorithms and Artificial Neural Network” Intelligent Engineering Systems Through Artificial Neural Networks; Smart Engineering System Design. ASME Pres Volume 11 New-York, pp:527, 2001
- Galip CANSEVER, Ş-N.ENGlN, O. F. ÖZGÜVEN, M. UZAM , "Fuzzy Logic Controller in Modern Control System: An industrial Application" , Advanced in Modeling and Analysis, Vol 43, No: l, pp 41-63 (23 pages), 1994
- Galip CANSEVER, H. Şeker, Beyhan Kılıç, " Electrical Modeling and Simulating of the Respiration System", Modeling, Measurements and Control, C, AMSE Press, Vol 44, No: 4, pp 19-37 (19 pages), 1994.


Prof. Dr. Galip CANSEVER