The LEGO Mindstorms NXT Vehicle: Control System Essay

Some of the most important components of a control system are actuators and sensors. A sensor is a device capable of detecting physical or chemical magnitudes, called instrumentation variables, and transforming them into electrical variables. The instrumentation variables can be for example temperature, light intensity, distance, acceleration, inclination, displacement, pressure, force, torsion, humidity, movement, pH, etc. Sensors are usually transducers that convert the energy of one form into energy of another form (e.g. a microphone convert sounds into an electrical signal), much like the five human senses convert physical phenomena into electrical and chemical signals that our neurological system can interpret. Actuators perform the opposite function, and allow a controller device, or brain of the control system, to interact with the physical world. Sensors and actuators together allow a controller to attain feedback from and generate appropriate outputs to, the outside world.

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It is possible to program sensors and actuators when one wants to get diverse control characteristics. The LEGO Mindstorms NXT Vehicle is one of the components that can be used together with sensors by using MATLAB programming. Lego Mindstorms is a platform for the design and development of robots, which follows the philosophy of the LEGO brand, assemble and build all kinds of objects simply by joining interconnectable blocks. The central block is a microcontroller, to which a brick "shell" in the shape of a LEGO has been added. The connection of sensors and actuators is very simple, by simple pressure on any of the doors and in any position. The pieces of Lego have multiple shapes and sizes, which allows us to build different structures, using the blocks as "bricks" or "beams". Using a PC, the brick programming is done, using different programs and languages. They are easy to assemble and disassemble, it is not necessary to use solder or screw. Everything that is armed can be disarmed quickly. In addition, that allows using the pieces in multiple different designs. It is not a closed pack, that is, one can buy more extensions of lego, acquire damaged or lost parts, or add pieces manually, such as sensors or motors, and even pneumatic circuits. It also has multiple possibilities and programming languages, from the most basic and intuitive level, such as Robolab, use of languages known as C or Java, and the use of Linux. It is scalable, that is to say, that from a basic material there are expansion options.

Conclusion

One of the most vital skills in controls is building the NXT Vehicle. The measurement of the angular velocity of the motors, the level of sound intensity, the ultrasonic distance, and the status of the on-off switch can be done using MATLAB codes. Additionally, they can be used in designing closed-loop controllers, feedback controllers, controlling the motion of the motor, and obtaining the open loop step response. The effective and efficient performance of a control system is dependent on all the aforementioned parameters. The current report will create and program interactive sensor, and actuator systems with the LEGO Mindstorms NXT kit and RWTH Mindstorms NXT MATLAB Toolbox. The report also aims at analyzing the process of designing, implementing data acquisition, processing, decision making, and control by using LEGO Mindstorms NXT and RWTH NXT MATLAB programming. Another objective of the report will be identifying a mathematical dynamics model for a LEGO NXT vehicle, and use it in the analysis, control system design, and simulations.