Establishing a cost effective embedded control and robotics engineering program: Observer based state feedback control using LEGOs

The cost of establishing a traditional control systems and robotics program usually runs into many thousands of dollars. As a result many undergraduate and graduate STEM institutions are unable to establish these important STEM programs in their curriculum. This paper introduces an alternative method of teaching important control system and robotics concepts using LEGO kits and ROBOTC software. Such a program has been successfully implemented in NYIT's school of electrical and computer engineering. In this paper, the concepts of observer based state feedback control are introduced. An observer based state feedback control is implemented on a LEGO NXT motor. The paper starts with exploring the system, which is initially identified. A PID controller is designed for the system. A state space model is then developed and its state feedback control is designed. In the final step, an observer based state feedback control is designed for the system.