Developing Experiments to Teach Control Theory

This paper presents two Project Based Learning (PBL) control experiments that are low cost and non-proprietary. Moreover, both of these projects can be built by the students for under one hundred dollars in a short amount of time. Nonetheless, the development of these devices was not without difficulties. This is probably why many classes still do not include homemade control experiments or when they do the experiment becomes problematic. This paper provides an outline of two control experimental devices and a discussion of where the difficulties occurred in developing them. Sufficient details are provided herein to allow others to replicate the PBL experiments, minus the problems, and to expand on what is presented in this limited offering. The use of these devices has undergone an evolution over the past three years, and the paper include details of the projects use, benefits, and drawbacks. Finally, the paper provides observations of student learning from several semesters of use with recommendations for the future.