Course Information:

• Instructor: Subashish Datta

• TAs: Yogeswari, Anvisha, Arpita and Astha

• Time: Wednesday (10 AM -1 PM and 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM)

• Venue: Control Laboratory, Block-II/214

Experiments:

• Experiments: The following experiments need to be carried-out (The details are given below in this page):

  • Exp-1: Introduction to Scientific Computing Softwares. Use THIS FILE for the problem statements.

  • Exp-2: Active-Circuit Realization of PID Controller for DC Motor Control (speed and position),

  • Exp-3: Arduino Based DC Motor control (speed and position)

  • Exp-4: Stabilization of biwheeled robot.

Design Project:

Fabrication and Control of a knee-less bipedal robot. For the design and simulation of the robot, use Webots (an open source robot simulator). The detailed step-wise procedure is given in this file. Once the simulation works perfectly, use our lab 3-D printer to prapare this robot. An image of Webot designed robot is given in left side.

Evaluation

• Exp-1: 15 marks.

• Exp-2: 15 marks.

• Exp-3: 10 marks.

• Exp-4: 20 marks.

• Project: 40 marks.

Note that the evaluations for each experiment and project are based on the performance, report and code submissions. All these experiments are group activities. A single report needs to be submitted by all the members in a particular group. The project report must contain a section highlighting each individual member's contribution to the project.

Autonomous Systems and Control Laboratory (ELP7100) (Sem I, 2025-26)

Course Information:

• Instructors: Prof. S. Datta and Prof. S. Sen

• TAs: Shuvam, Khushall and Anvisha

• Time: Wednesday and Friday (3:00 PM to 6:00 PM)

• Venue: Control Laboratory, Block-II/214

Introduction to Scientific Computing Softwares (Exp-1):

Students will be introduced to the following scientific computing, modelling and simulation softwares: i) MATLAB, ii) Scilab, iii) Python and iv) OpenModelica through solving a set of problems available here (the relevant data). The problems are mostly related to following topics:

• Numerical solution of non-linear system

• Linear algebra related problems (similarity transformation)

• Controller Design, implementation and simulation

• Modeling and simulation of of physical systems using OpenModelica

• State estimation using Kalman filter

Some reference materials for the above softwares are available here: i) Scilab tutorial, ii) Python for computation and control tutorial, and iii) OpenModelica tutorial

Active-Circuit Realization of PID Controller for DC Motor Control (Exp-2):

The overall objectives of this experiment are devided into following three parts: System identification: It is first required to identify the given DC motor's transfer function. Once the transfer function is obtained, for the verfication purpose, the same transfer function needs to be simulated in MATLAB Simulink, by giving a step input, and then comparing the response with the response of actual DC motor in the Oscilloscope. Controller synthesis: Choose your own transient performance characterstics, such as damping and settling time. Then, design a PID controller to achieve these transient specifications using MATLAB sisotool available in Control System Toolbox with root-locus based design approach. You may use this page for reference. Active-Circuit Realization: Once the PID controller is designed, it needs to be implemented for controlling the DC motor speed. The PID controller needs to be realized through active circuits, such as using operational amplifiers, resistors and capacitors in the breadboard as shown in figure. This page may halp you for realizing the PID circuit.

Arduino Based Speed and Position Control of DC Motor (Exp-3):

This experiment has same objectives as in Exp-4, and same procedures needs to be followed, except the last step (Active-Circuit Realization). Instead of the active circuit realization, it is required to implement the PID controller through an Arduino-Mega microcontroller with DC motor driver. In addition to speed of DC motor, the position control also needs to be carried out.

Stabilization of Inverted Pendulum (Exp-4):

Appropriate controller needs to be designed to keep the oscillating pendulum straight upright.

Development of Path-Following Robot Using LEGO Mindstrom Kit (Exp-5):

Following tasks are to be performed on the mobile-robot shown in figure. Open-loop operation: In this part, there is no need to use and controller for the motors, attached with the wheels. Some speed reference is provided to both the motors, and the turn angle needs to set to zero. Then, observe the motion of the mobile robot. More details and step-wise procedures are available in this page. Closed-loop operation: In this operation, it is required to program the EV3 brick to drive the robot autonomously in a straight line. For this, following two different methods need to be followed. First, the motor encoders data are utilized to track wheel rotations for precise movement using PID controller. More details and step-wise procedures are available in this page In the second part, a gyro sensor need to be integrated to maintain the robot's orientation to ensure that it followed a straight path, even after giving a small disturbance.

3-D Prototyping (Exp-6):

Students need to learn a software for 3-D printing, and then, need to print some components (possibly some parts of a robot) using the 3-D printer available in our laboratory.

Design Project:

This is a semester-long project. In this project, a biwheeled self-stabilizing robot needs to be fabricated. A mathematical model needs to be derived, and controller needs to be designed to keep the robot straight upright, as shown in the figure. You may use Report1 and Report2 as references in performing the stated tasks. Best performer group will get some extra marks.

Activity Schedule

• Exp-1: Starting of semester – Mid-semester break

• Exp-2: 08.08. 2025 – Twelve practical hours

• Exp-3: 08.08. 2025 – Twelve practical hours

• Exp-4: 08.08. 2025 – Twelve practical hours

• Exp-5: 08.08. 2025 – Twelve practical hours

• Exp-6: Mid-semester break – 31.10.2025

• Project: Starting of semester – 31.10.2025

Note for Exp-2, Exp-3, Exp-4 and Exp-5: If you are starting (say) from Exp 3, then you need to start Exp-4 after twelve practical hours, then Exp-5 after twelve practical hours and then Exp-2 after twelve practical hours. This cyclic pattern needs to be followed for Exp-2 to Exp-5.

Evaluation

• Exp-1: 20 marks.

• Exp-2: 10 marks.

• Exp-3: 10 marks.

• Exp-4: 10 marks.

• Exp-5: 10 marks.

• Exp-6: 10 marks. Students need to submit a 3-D printed component.

• Project: 30 Marks. Students need to submit a report on the project work and prepare a presentation for evaluation.

Note that the evaluations for each experiment and project are based on the performance, report and code submissions. All these experiments are group activities. A single report needs to be submitted by all the members in a particular group. The project report must contain a section highlighting each individual member's contribution to the project.