Virtual Joystick Control of Finch Robot

Junior-level students in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology program complete a 3-credit Measurements & Instrumentation course. There are three main sections of the course: (1) Programming applications using LabVIEW, (2) Data acquisition, sensors, and signal conditioning, and (3) Design of measurement systems. Weekly laboratory activities mirror the lecture materials. Part of the requirements in the course includes an end-of-semester team design project where one possible option is to design and implement software application for the Finch Robot. Students are provided LabVIEW SubVIs for all of the robot’s low-level functions (audio buzzer, tri-color LED, left/right motor control, light sensors, obstacle detectors, temperature sensor, and tri-axis accelerometer values) as well as the corresponding DLL files to run the SubVIs. The objectives for the project are to utilize their LabVIEW programming skills to design a joystick control for the speed and direction of the robot, display the pitch and roll of the robot, and audibly alert the user of the presence of an obstacle in front of the robot. This paper provides a detailed listing of the engineering requirements for the project. An example of student work is provided, along with a project assessment. Recommendations are included to help ensure student success on the project. Introduction to the Measurements and Instrumentation Course This is a required junior-level course for Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology students. The purpose of the course is several-fold:  Learn principles of LabVIEW programming.  Use LabVIEW to design software for programming PC-based data acquisition (DAQ) systems  Understand various sensors and design signal conditioning circuits to interface the sensors to DAQ systems  Integrate all of these components into the design of measurement systems This course is lab intensive and utilizes LabVIEW with a data acquisition (DAQ) device as a primary vehicle for the design of measurement systems 1-3 . The course is 3 credits and consists of 2 hours of lecture and 2 hours of lab per week. The lecture content of the course is divided into three areas: Programming applications using LabVIEW (5 weeks), Data acquisition, sensors, and signal conditioning (4 weeks), and Design of measurement systems (7 weeks). LabVIEW is a graphical programming environment that allows a developer access to a wide variety of I/O and sensor interfaces, perform mathematical analysis, and link all of these operations to custom designed “control panels” or user interfaces. The lab content of the course is designed to reinforce concepts discussed during lecture. Each lab is considered a project since it lists a series of engineering requirements and depending upon the scope P ge 24360.2 of the project, requires either 2 or 3 weeks to complete. Each project is completed by a student team that consists of no more than 2 students (some students prefer to work by themselves), where students pick their team members at the beginning of the semester. For nearly all of the projects, students are expected to work outside of the scheduled lab time in order to complete the objectives. Grading for the project consists of 60% based on meeting all of the engineering requirements, 30% based on the content of the lab report, and 10% based on spelling, grammar, and writing style. There is a 5% reduction for late lab report submittals. A listing of the projects for the course is shown below.  Lab 1: Software-defined Calculator Project (2 weeks)  Lab 2: Thermocouple Project (2 weeks)  Lab 3: Waveform Generator Project (2 weeks)  Lab 4: Digital Voltmeter Project (2 weeks)  Lab 5: Digital Multimeter Project (2 weeks)  Lab 6: Temperature Control System Project (2 weeks) Also, a team final project is required for the course. Three weeks of scheduled lab time are provided at the end of the semester for students to work on their project. One possible option for the final project is to design and implement a software application for the Finch Robot. The purpose of this paper is to describe the details about the Finch Robot project.