Control Systems Lab Using a LEGO Mindstorms NXT Motor System

This paper introduces a low-cost LEGO Mindstorms NXT motor system for teaching classical and modern control theories in standard third-year undergraduate courses. The LEGO motor system can be used in conjunction with MATLAB, Simulink, and several necessary toolboxes to demonstrate: 1) a modeling technique; 2) proportional-integral-differential (PID) control; and 3) state feedback control and estimator design. This paper describes the use of these demonstrations during three lab sessions and illustrates their usefulness for helping students to understand the modeling and control systems theories.