Low-cost platforms used in Control Education - An educational case study.pdf
- 1. Low-cost platforms used in Control Education: An educational case study E. Irigoyen*,a , E. Larzabal*, R. Priego* * Automation and Engineering Systems Department (DISA), University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), a Computational Intelligent Research Group, ETSI, Bilbao, Spain, (e-mail: [email protected]) Abstract: Educational methodologies are continuously improving in Control courses by using high functioning and low-cost platforms. This paper presents a brief description of the most widely used platforms and how they are selected for inclusion in university subjects, specifically in Control Engineering Education. In our experience, such a selection has to be made based on two criteria: The particular concern of the teacher to include more didactic contents in courses and subjects, and the continuously growing experience of students in relation to every low-cost platform. We hereby present a case study of the LEGO(R) MINDSTORM(R) NXT and Arduino platform. Keywords: Low-cost platforms, Control Engineering Education, educational approach. 1. INTRODUCTION Over the last few years, in most universities around the world, specifically those offering Engineering degrees, low- cost platforms have been used to improve the teaching experience in several subjects, in particular those related to Robotics (see e.g. Mataric et al., 2007; Miller, 2008; Balogh, 2008, Kim, 2011; Cruz-Martín et al., 2012; Wyffels et al., 2012). As some authors have mentioned (Cruz-Martín et al., 2012), these platforms can be used, not only for driving mobile robots, but also for developing other kinds of applications focused on data processing, advanced measuring and communication amongst other possibilities. Furthermore, these low-cost platforms have such high capabilities that they can even be employed in some research developments, as indicated by (García-Saura and González-Gómez, 2012). These research studies obtain very successful solutions in prototyping, resulting in solutions in Real-Time applications (see e.g. Bradley et al., 2012). Initially, all these new teaching proposals came from the concern of teachers to provide new tools to students, which incorporate features that are attractive enough to encourage students to use them, from pre-university courses to postgraduate studies (see e.g. van Lith, 2007; Weinberg and Yu, 2003; Blank et al., 2003; Chiou, 2004; Alers and Hu, 2009; Carter and Coupland, 2010). Recently, we have detected a growing interest in the use of devices for developing and implementing personal and particular solutions to technologically solve different engineering problems in the student university community. Students are inclined to choose devices which are easily accessible, both in price and in developing applications, taking into account the existence of support from web communities, on-line forums or open source libraries as NI LabVIEW for LEGO(R) MINDSTORMS(R) (2013), K12lab (2013), element14 COMMUNITY (2013), OpenNI (2013) and instructables (2013). In fact, new trends were detected in the programming methods carried out by students, based principally on the integration of sub-solved solutions, from previous implementations available in open source (see e.g. ROS (2013); EJS1 ; GCC2 ). Students also greatly appreciate the possibility of developing new designs with these low-cost platforms, enabling them to reach a final prototype, quickly and easily. This is due to the platforms chosen by them, which have high accessibility to extra components and peripherals (actuators, sensors, and communications), leading to the increased performance of the device. Some examples of these kinds of platforms are: LEGO(R) MINDSTORM(R) NXT3 , Arduino4 , Kinect5 and RasberryPi6 . Therefore, these low-cost platforms have been recently incorporated into a variety of courses, mainly due to the concern of teachers to improve teaching methods in the area of Control, and based on the previous experience gained by students using these devices. Some subjects where these platforms have been used are: Robotics, Industrial Perception, and Real Time Systems, amongst others. The involvement of students in the work performed by these low- cost platforms used in Control courses has heavily increased in comparison to practical and laboratory activities carried out before including them. 1 http://fem.um.es/Ejs/ 2 http://gcc.gnu.org/ 3 http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/whatisnxt/default.aspx/ 4 http://www.arduino.cc/en/ 5 http://www.xbox.com/en-US/kinect/ 6 http://www.raspberrypi.org/ 10th IFAC Symposium Advances in Control Education The International Federation of Automatic Control August 28-30, 2013. Sheffield, UK 978-3-902823-43-4/2013 © IFAC 256 10.3182/20130828-3-UK-2039.00064
- 2. Currently, in the Department of Systems Engineering and Automation (DISA) of the UPV/EHU, these platforms are used in courses provided during the last two years of Engineering, in addition to the development of an educational final project. As new programming techniques, lecturers are incorporating code searching in various open source communities and subsequent integration into more robust solutions into their working methods. In addition to the increasing interest of students in these new approaches to work, we have identified a remarkable growth of learning, reflected in their final grades. Moreover, all of these low-cost platforms approaches have been extended to new institutional environments such as the "Engineering presentation days", the “UPV/EHU science week", and the "Intelligent Control competition" where the participation of students is equally important. In the following section low-cost platforms for developing student work used in DISA over the last few years will be presented. After this, the teaching approach carried out in DISA is detailed. Subsequently two educational case studies are presented, including the results obtained from these adapted educational methodologies. Finally, the extracted conclusions from our educational experience and new lines of work proposed for the future will be given. 2. LOW-COST PLATFORMS 2.1 LEGO-NXT The NXT unit is a programmable assembly kit developed by the LEGO(R) enterprise. Originally, this kit was designed for users outside the university framework. It was created for youngsters, but reached the general public due to its high versatility. Later on, due to its great potential, this platform was incorporated into university courses. Nowadays NXT is a very popular working tool in such an environment. It has also received the support of large engineering software companies like the aforementioned National Instruments, adding LabVIEW libraries for LEGO(R) MINDSTORMS(R). Fig. 1. LEGO-NXT EV3 and NXT 2.0: CPU Brick with Actuators and Sensors. The most important features of this platform can be found on several websites7 8 . The specific characteristics of the last EV3 model are: 32-bit ARM9 microprocessor; embedded 16 7 Lego NXT: Features & Limitations http://cs.uwindsor.ca/~malovicd/499football/features_limitations.pdf 8 9797 Lego Mindstorms education User Guide http://cache.lego.com/downloads/education/9797_LME_UserGuide _US_low.pdf Mbytes FLASH memory; 64 MB RAM plus SD expansion slot; USB 2.0 port; WIFI-USB and Bluetooth wireless communication; 4 input and 4 output ports. This platform has a very interesting feature for university students. It has a wide variety of programming languages that can be used for implementing control solutions. Some of the most common languages are: NXT-G (a graphical programming environment by LEGO(R)); National Instruments LabVIEW; leJOS (a firmware replacement including a Java virtual machine); Matlab/Simulink by MathWorks; and Ada. LEGO-NXT platforms have a broad variety of elements that can be connected as peripheral devices. As sensors, the elements created by the company itself can be used. Variables to be measured are: pressure, light/colour, sound, ultrasound and temperature, amongst others. Additionally, other manufacturers have created more sensors such as accelerometers9 , compass, gyroscopes, even USB adapters for connecting other sensors, see e.g. Vernier10 . As actuators, there are servomotors and linear motors11 . At the same time, a collection of pneumatic actuators 12 have been created in order to complement electric ones. 2.2 Arduino Arduino is an enterprise that provides a set of open-source electronic prototyping platforms, designed in a compact, reduced and easy-to-use size. The main component in Arduino boards is a microcontroller. In addition, an open development environment is freely provided. All the characteristics of different available models were created so that they could be used in any developed application13 . Among the most popular boards, two can be labelled: Arduino Uno14 , the most widely used; and Arduino Mega15 , the one with the highest processing capability, and the highest number of input/output ports. Fig. 2. Arduino Uno and Arduino Mega. The following table shows the most relevant characteristics between both boards: Arduino Uno and Arduino Mega. 9 http://www.hitechnic.com/products 10 http://www.vernier.com/products/interfaces/bta-nx/ 11 http://www.firgelli.com/products.php?id=43 12 http://ro- botica.com/img/NXT/neumatica/9641_Robotica_Neumatica_TN.pdf 13 http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Products 14 http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardUno 15 http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardMega2560 10th IFAC ACE August 28-30, 2013. Sheffield, UK 257
- 3. Table 1. Arduino Platforms Arduino UNO Arduino MEGA Microcontroller ATmega328 ATmega2560 Oper. Voltage 5V 5V Digital I/O Pins 14 (of which 6 provide PWM output) 54 (of which 15 provide PWM output) AI Pins 6 16 Flash Memory 32 KB (ATmega328) of which 0.5 KB used by bootloader 256 KB of which 8 KB used by bootloader SRAM 2 KB (ATmega328) 8 KB EEPROM 1 KB (ATmega328) 4 KB Clock Speed 16 MHz 16 MHz Although the Arduino enterprise provides its own programming development environment, it is possible to implement solutions from a wide variety of environments16 . This is because the Arduino libraries are written in C code. The microcontroller programming can be performed from a bootloader. Furthermore if necessary, a programming device can be connected in order to implement your code. Arduino is one of the most used platforms because it provides a high level of support in libraries and hardware devices. This is the main characteristic of this environment. Moreover, as complementary hardware a wide variety of shields that provide great expandability exist. Among the most used shields are17 18 : Ethernet Communication; Motor Driving Control; Communication by radiofrequency (Xbee); R/W SD cards; and USB Master. In addition, certain types of structures in robot shapes also exist, and some devices that are designed to be directly controlled by the Arduino19 . 2.3 Raspberry Pi The Raspberry Pi platform is a low-cost and small size computer, whose purpose is to stimulate users in programming and computer science. Originally, it was designed to encourage the learning of languages like Python, Tiny BASIC, C and Perl. This does not mean that its applicability is limited to such activities. Because of its low price and good specifications it has been used to perform a high number of different projects. The most relevant features of Raspberry Pi – Model B are20 : SoC Broadcom BCM2835; CPU with 700 MHz and ARM1176JZF-S core; SDRAM 512 MB; 2 USB 2.0 ports; GPU, Video and Audio outputs; SD Onboard storage; 10/100 16 http://playground.arduino.cc/Main/DevelopmentTools 17 http://shieldlist.org/ 18 http://playground.arduino.cc/Main/SimilarBoards 19 http://www.robotshop.com/dfrobotshop-rover-arduino- compatible-kits.html 20 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi Ethernet Onboard network; 8 × GPIO, UART, I²C and SPI buses. Fig. 3. Raspberry Pi – Model B. Furthermore, a large number of new operating systems have been created due to the huge impact Raspberry Pi has had. Among them, the most supported and used ones in the community are21 22 : Raspbian "wheezy"; Soft-float Debian "wheezy"; Arch Linux ARM; and RISC OS. Open source software is not the only development created by Raspberry Pi. A large amount of hardware such as expansion shields has also been designed in order to extend the capabilities of the motherboard. Among other shields, the most significant are23 : Analog Inputs; Motor Control; Odometry; and Intercommunication Boards. 2.4 Kinect Kinect is a multi-sensorial platform originally developed by Microsoft for the Xbox video game console. This platform has a defined number of sensors: a RGB camera; a depth sensor (infrared projector + monochrome CMOS sensor); and a microphone. Moreover, with the combination of monochrome and depth sensors it is possible to create a low- cost LIDAR sensor. Fig. 4. Kinect with its components. In February 2011, Microsoft developed a SDK24 for Microsoft Windows systems. In parallel, the open source community began to develop libraries and APIs for other operating systems, like GNU/Linux25 26 or ROS27 . The specifications for Kinect are28 : 43° vertical and 57° horizontal 21 http://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads 22 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi#Operating_systems 23 http://elinux.org/RPi_Expansion_Boards 24 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh855347.aspx 25 http://openkinect.org/wiki/Main_Page 26 http://www.openni.org/ 27 http://www.ros.org/wiki/kinect 28 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj131033.aspx 10th IFAC ACE August 28-30, 2013. Sheffield, UK 258
- 4. viewing angle; ±27° vertical tilt range; 30 fps in depth and colour stream; 16-kHz, 24-bit mono PCM audio format; and 2G/4G/8G accelerometer with a 1° accuracy upper limit. Nowadays, various promising technological projects based on the depth sensor are performed in a wide range of universities around the world. This sensor has a range of 0.7 to 6 meters for tracking persons. 2.5 Comparative relation between platforms There are two main reasons for choosing these four platforms in our university environment, with a view to incorporating them into several subject programs: - Amongst others, these platforms were part of the research groups' equipment. Furthermore, teachers have been working with these platforms and have perfect knowledge of how they perform. - The demand by students of these subjects to work with these kinds of platforms given that they were already using them outside the university environment in their free time due their interest in new technological developments. The purpose of using the four selected platforms is to make use of the potential intrinsic characteristics of each of them for solving specific engineering problems. In addition to the programming of these platforms, as stated in the introductory section, there are several areas where it would be desirable to carry out experimental tests. The following is a table comparing the most relevant characteristics between all platforms. In this table, features such as usability, accessibility and availability in building solutions for any kind of development are presented in order to emphasize variables. Table 2. Platforms characteristics Platforms Prize Processor Peripheral access Software LEGO Mindstorm NXT 160 € - 300€ ARM7 3 O / 4 I Bluetooth USB Proprietary, Open Source Arduino 20-60 € ATmega328 DIO, AI, PWM, UART, I2C C Open Source library Raspberry Pi 35 $ ARM11 USB, RJ45, UART, GPIO, I2 C, AV Output Open Source Kinect 150 € the capacity of your computer Accelerometers, RGB/Mono V, IR, Audio Proprietary, Open Source 2.6 Other platforms and tools In addition to the platforms presented above, a wide range of possibilities for teaching with low-cost platforms still exist. These devices are included in this subsection. The differences compared to previous ones are: they are less popular in the university collective; they are designed to be used in more specific applications; and there is less activity in focused support communities. Some of these alternatives are: - Skybot29 : A mobile robot with 2 driving wheels and indoor sensing. - Boe-Bot30 : A rolling robot with a BASIC Stamp 2 microcontroller brain. - ProtoBot31 : A basic prototyping minimum robot developed in OOML. - Dwengo Board32 : An experiment board for the beginner hobbyist or the more experienced electro technical people. On the other hand, it is also common to find communities on the web where software tools are provided, support via forums is available and new solutions developed using all these platforms. Some of these communities are: LabVIEW- Hacker33 , K12lab (K12lab, 2013), element14COMMUNITY (element14 COMMUNITY, 2013), or ROS (ROS, 2013). 3. TEACHING APPROACH INCLUDING LOW-COST PLATFORMS Once the most suitable platforms have been studied and selected, the problem of adapting course programs arises. In previous educational experience when real devices were used in experiments in laboratories with workspaces for one or a set of students the results obtained in such experiences were less promising than expected a priori, in spite of using new working methods. The first objective of reaching high levels of use in laboratories and classrooms was not achieved. This methodological change in the curricula was not an attractive enough offer for the students. In an effort to achieve an improvement in the working methodologies in these subjects, lecturers thought about new teaching strategies. Keeping within the subjects' context, a competitive framework was selected. In this new context students have to satisfy two criteria. On the one hand, students can be evaluated for the work carried out. On the other hand, they are given the opportunity to meet in a competition, where they need to compete against each other. Whichever numerical evaluation they obtained, the competitive character of such competition notably increased their participation, and generated a high level of collaboration between groups, with respect to previous experience. In the next section, two case studies with different learning objectives are presented. The first one takes place in the context of a course where students were invited to participate in a local competition. The second one proposed a challenge: solving the integration of different low-cost platforms in order to be presented in an academic meeting directed to pre- university students later on. 29 http://www.iearobotics.com/wiki/index.php?title=Skybot 30 http://www.parallax.com/go/boebot 31 http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:18264 32 http://www.dwengo.org/products/dwengo-board 33 http://www.labviewhacker.com/doku.php 10th IFAC ACE August 28-30, 2013. Sheffield, UK 259
- 5. 4. CASE STUDY AND RESULTS In this section, two different educational experiments carried out in the DISA of UPV/EHU are explained. These were undertaken by students studying for a degree in Industrial Engineering and by those studying for a degree in Automation and Industrial Electronics. 4.1 LEGO-NXT and the Perception Systems Course This experiment was performed in the context of a subject which deals with perception systems in Industry. During the course, students learn the basics of Industrial Instrumentation, different types of advanced sensors in Industry (as ultrasonic and light sensors, LASER devices, and GPS), the processing of measured signals from the plant, and the way to relate such measures to the real world. In this subject, students are divided into groups and each one has to develop a specific piece of work with the LEGO(R) MINDSTORM(R) NXT 2.0 platform and several peripheral devices as engines, touch, ultrasonic, light and microphone sensors (see figure 1). The main objectives of proposed works are: to achieve a suitable tuning of controllers for line tracking control, to detect obstacles ahead, and to maintain a smoother action for line identification, always taking into account the processor limitations of NXT 2.0. In order to achieve a higher participation and involvement of students in this project, a competition between groups was proposed, independent to the evaluation of developed projects. The competition is based on the Handkerchief game. The created robots have to be driven over a black square surface (1x1 m) with a white line (1 cm of width), as shown in figure 5. This line is the path that robots have to follow to reach the target (a cylinder) and then return with it. All robots have to be designed and created by students without any help from their teacher. target start & finish Fig. 5. Handkerchief surface. Each team/group has a NXT 2.0 unit, in addition to the basic accessories that are provided in the set 8547 LEGO(R) MINDSTORMS(R) NXT 2.0. In order to track the white line, students have to use a LEGO light sensor. Once the goal has been reached, students have to process the information provided by the LEGO ultrasonic sensor. At this point, the robot has to calculate the distance to the target and activate the capturing task. Different robot structures were created due to a free design. Ingenious solutions were created, as we can see in figure 6. Fig. 6. A set of ingenious robotic solutions. Results: Due to the creation and proposal of this new challenge for the Perception Systems subject, the level of students involvement significantly increased in comparison to previous editions. Students participating in the course work ended with higher grade compared to students who did not choose to carry out the work, and always above to earlier years. By means of this low-cost platform, students experiment and learn lots of basics from several subject areas, even in topics independent of the course. The programming was a problem which needed to be solved by students, as well as: lighting for correctly detecting the white line on the black surface; driving over the line where actions have to be different depending on the track; or for example, the ultrasonic sensor ranges for detecting a correct localization of the target ahead. A very positive aspect is the fact that to improve the solutions implemented, students use knowledge they acquired in other subjects in the degree course. Next link shows one of the tests carried out in the competition: http://youtu.be/TlcvtBaVg_c. 4.2 Kinect and Arduino for Robotics (humanoid) This experiment is aimed at designing a visually appealing humanoid robot that integrates different low-cost platforms. These platforms were selected from a set of devices that are currently used in courses offered at the university. The developed solution is presented in the context of a workshop/meeting that the UPV/EHU organizes in order to show to the public some areas in which teachers and students are working. This meeting is held annually in Bilbao where a specific set of departments are selected by the university management office to present their work. This students’ work is focused on the integration of several platforms used in DISA in order to design a robotic demonstration for showing to the general public. The first idea was to create a humanoid robot that mimics the movements of a person, standing upright, as shown in figure 7. Fig. 7. Integration of several low-cost platforms. 10th IFAC ACE August 28-30, 2013. Sheffield, UK 260
- 6. The integrated system composed of low-cost platforms was presented to the people visiting the DISA stand by the same students who designed the humanoid robot. Once this system stands up and is ready, students invite the public to play with it, and at the same time explain its relation to the contents of courses offered at the University. Results: The work carried out by the participating students generated an integrated solution using several low-cost platforms available at the DISA. The design of this solution was mainly undertaken by the students. Teachers provided enough freedom to the students to choose the platforms, select the communication system, assemble the structure and program the code avoiding, as far as possible, any inferences. This experiment clearly demonstrates that Engineering students are obtaining new knowledge through the use of these low-cost platforms. One of the most important conclusions to be drawn from this educational approach is the growing interest of students for technology. Furthermore, the productivity of their university works has substantially increased. Next link shows an example of this work: http://youtu.be/UrYv1lArDJs. 5. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE LINES This paper has presented a brief state of the art about low- cost platforms used in university environments. From the experience of the Department of Automation and System Engineering (DISA) of the University of the Basque Country, we have selected and suggested four of these platforms for reinforcement of subjects in Control Education: LEGO(R) MINDSTORM(R) NXT, Arduino, Kinect and RasberryPi. Recently, DISA has incorporated these platforms into several subjects in Industrial Engineering, and Automation and Industrial Electronics Engineering. Specifically, these subjects are taught in the final years of these courses. We have detected that some of the students’ technological interests are very close to the working lines of low-cost platforms. As a result, a high number of students have chosen these activities to reinforce engineering basics, increasing participation over the last few years. At present, programming methods have also changed by introducing new methodologies for supporting and integrating applications (APPs) previously developed by other programmers. Efficiency in the final implemented solutions and the time saved in this programming process has increased significantly. From this point of view, the next step will be to propose new challenges where students integrate different low-cost platforms in each course, in order to teach all of these subjects related to Control Education. This idea allows to work with the same multi-platform in consecutive courses, resulting in a learning framework for different concepts. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work was supported by DPI2012-32882 project of the Spanish Ministry of Innovation and Science. The work has also been funded by the Education, University and Research Department of the Basque Government (GV/EJ) BFI-2011- 251-AE research fellowship. Many thanks to Paul D. Reyburn for his help in the preparation of this paper. Moreover, the authors wish to thank the DISA and GICI (http://gici.drupalgardens.com/) for their supporting. REFERENCES Alers, S., and Hu, J. (2009). AdMoVeo: A Robotic Platform for Teaching Creative Programming to Designers. In Proceedings of Learning by Playing. Game-based Education System Design and Development, LNCS 5670, 410-421. Chang, M.Ed., Berlin. Balogh, R. (2008). Basic Activities with the Boe-Bot Mobile Robot. In DidInfo2008, 14th International Conference. FPV UMB, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia. Blank, D., et al. (2003). Pyro: A Python-based Versatile Programming Environment for Teaching Robotics. 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