Design and Implementation of a Ball-Plate Control System and Python Script for Educational Purposes in STEM Technologies

This paper presents the process of designing, fabricating, assembling, programming and optimizing a prototype nonlinear mechatronic Ball-Plate System (BPS) as a laboratory platform for engineering education STEM. Due to the nonlinearity and complexity of BPS, the task presents challenges such as: (1...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 22; no. 5; p. 1875
Main Authors: Tudić, Vladimir, Kralj, Damir, Hoster, Josip, Tropčić, Tomislav
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 27.02.2022
MDPI
Subjects:
Actuators
Algorithms
Ball-Plate System
Computer vision
Computers
Control algorithms
Control systems
Control theory
Controllers
Digital cameras
Engineering
Engineering schools
Feedback
Fuzzy logic
Genetic algorithms
Interactive computer systems
Laboratories
Linear programming
Machine vision
Mechanical engineering
Neural networks
Ordinary differential equations
PID controller
Process controls
Python scripts
ready-made functions
Robotics
Software
STEM
Students
Systems design
USB HD camera
Croatia
Ball-Plate System
PID controller
Python scripts
USB HD camera
ready-made functions
STEM
ISSN:1424-8220, 1424-8220
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:This paper presents the process of designing, fabricating, assembling, programming and optimizing a prototype nonlinear mechatronic Ball-Plate System (BPS) as a laboratory platform for engineering education STEM. Due to the nonlinearity and complexity of BPS, the task presents challenges such as: (1) difficulty in controlling the stabilization of a particular position point, known as steady-state error, (2) position resolution, known as specific distance error, and (3) adverse environmental effects—light-shadow error, which is also discussed in this paper. The laboratory prototype BPS for education was designed, manufactured and installed at Karlovac University of Applied Sciences in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics program. The low-cost two-degree BPS uses a USB HD camera for computer vision as a feedback sensor and two DC servo motors as actuators. Due to control problems, an advanced block diagram of the control system is proposed and discussed. An open-source control system based on Python scripts, which allows the use of ready-made functions from the library, allows the color of the ball and the parameters of the PID controller to be changed, indirectly simplifying the control system and performing mathematical calculations directly. The authors will continue their research on this BPS mechatronic platform and control algorithms.
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ISSN:1424-8220
1424-8220
DOI:10.3390/s22051875