Balancing a ball on a table in a desired position is one of
the most important and classical problems of control
theory. Altair, partnering with ACROME, promotes the unique
experience of a digital twin mechatronics simulation and
hands-on experiment platform to teach and learn model-based
controller design concepts with a 3D+lD system
co-simulation engine.
The Ball Balancing Table (BBT) is a well-known kit for all
mechatronics enthusiasts. Even if it might appear quite
simple, it allows to investigate many aspects of control,
for example anti-windup scheme for PID control.
The main parts of the BBT kit are:
Power Supply
Controller (Arduino)
RC Servos
2D resistive touch screen
Steel Ball
The position of the ball, measured by
the touchscreen, is fed as input to the controller, which
comparing it with the reference produces an error signal.
This error signal is converted accordingly to a certain
control logic into a command which drives the RC servos.
The movement of the servos is transmitted to the table
through rod end bearings, allowing the ball to follow the
set reference.
FEATURES
Assembled and ready to control plant with the
integrated power unit.
Getting Started Program with rich Graphical User
Interface for out-of-the-box user experience
Implementation of advanced digital control techniques
Fully compatible with Altair Activate
Fully documented system models and parameters provided
for Altair Activate.
Ball position feedback using a high precision touch
surface (camera based feedback optional) Actuating the
table by RC servo motors, which are familiar to
students.
Rectangular and circular path options are integrated in
the software.
Enables students to create their own real-time
algorithms. Open architecture with extensive
courseware, suitable for undergraduate courses for
engineering disciplines related to control systems.
Altair Activate
Altair Activate� software is an open
& flexible tool for rapidly modeling and simulating
products as multi-disciplinary systems in the form of 1D
models (expressed as signal-based or physical block
diagrams), optionally coupled to 3D models. Recently, it
can also run hardware in the loop simulations, making it a
perfect platform to develop mechatronic systems, such as:
Teachers
Students
Prepare your students to hit-the-ground-running in
their work as mechatronics engineers!
Get the premier mechatronics jobs! As an explorer,
empower yourself with the next generation engineering
tools to innovate better and faster.
STARTER KIT
EXPANSION KIT
Hardware+ Courseware
Hardware+ Courseware
Teaching License of Software
Initial Setup Help and Training (via web)
Only l Starter Kit is needed. If you already
have the Altair software, you need only purchase
Expansion Kits.
All software apps can be installed and run on
student computers and/or on school computers.
CURRICULUM
Components of Ball Balancing
Table
Fundamentals of PWM
System Modelling
Feedback in Control Systems
RC Servo Motors
PWM Signaling Theory
Lagrangian Method
Reading Ball Position from Touch Sensor
Touch Sensor
Generating PWM Signals Driving RC Servos with PWM
Signals
Newton�s Law of Motion
Derivative Filtering
Controller
Modeling of Actuator
Acrome Power Distribution BoxMechanics of the System
Obtaining Transfer Function
Performance Measure
Control System Design
Control System Verification
Time Domain Characteristics
Design of Linear Controllers
Frequency response analysis
Steady State Response and Steady State Error
PID controller and Fuzzy Logic Controller
Experimental Bode Diagram
Comparing the Simulation and Real System Responses for
Different Controllers
Cut-Off Frequency Determination
The following is the typical workflow
for a typical BBT experiment
The closed loop system can be easily
modeled in Altair Activate through this block diagram:
The last step is to test and validate
the controller with the real BBT kit. This means that we
are performing a hardware in the loop simulation.
As you can see the digital twin and the real BBT kit behave
almost the same:
Detailed Proposals
We at ESS have meticulously compiled
an out-of-the box � Robotics Test Rig with necessary Model
Based design glue logic. Click below to download the
Detailed proposal, Lab Manual, Lab Courseware, List of
Experiments.
We can arrange a short live online
demo of HIL simulation control of robotics kit at your
convenience.
