A Vision for Overcoming the Challenges of Building Cyber-Physical Systems

During a recent user conference, NI Week 2006, we got a glimpse into the future of the design of Cyber-physical systems. A team of engineering students from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) described their senior design project in a Mechatronics course [1]. For their semester-long project they chose to build a human transport vehicle, inspired by the popular Segway scooter from DEKA Research. The team used a graphical design environment that allowed them to explore design choices by both simulating and rapidly being able to deploy their control models to prototype mechanics and electronics. The students started by simulating the system dynamics of an initial physical model of a transporter vehicle. The students then built a scale model of the transporter, based on the simulation results, to evaluate different options for sensors and control algorithms. The team found that a combination of sensor technologies, sensor fusion between an inclinometer and a rate-gyroscope, was ideal for balancing the transporter. The team then built a full size transporter before the end of the semester.