Didactic equipment for studying automation and applied informatics

Abstract

This paper with a certain didactic applicability shows how a “Ball and plate” system could be used as a laboratory equipment, how this equipment could be made and what theoretical concepts can be learnt. Original and ingenious mechanical structure was designed to decouple movements on two axes to simplify mathematical modeling for the system. Surface movement, sensitive to the touch, is a touch screen that provides position information of the ball. Drive systems are used as actuators found in plane modeling. The paper presents the structure of the system hardware and software, mathematical modeling and simulation in Matlab-Simulink for obtaining response to step signals on the two axes (Ox and Oy). Implementation of the control algorithm, the orders on a smartphone, the information processing and displaying the movement, the control signals and other information can be seen on the personal computer and are original implementations and with teaching purposes.