Automatic control systems 2/15/05 10:07 AM

Automatic control systems

Feedforward - open loop systems,

• early example: Jacquard loom of 1801

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 • set of punched cards programmed the patterns to be woven by the
loom, and no information from the process or results was used to
correct the loom operation.

Feedback – closed loop systems

• systems feed back information from the process to control the
operation of the machine
• earliest closed loop systems was that used by the Romans to
maintain water levels in their aqueducts by means of floating valves

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• windmills were the spawning ground of several control systems,
for example the sails were automatically kept into the wind by
means of a fantail (1745), as shown below; centrifugal governors
were used to control the speed of the millstones (1783), and the
speed of rotation of the sails was automatically controlled by roller
reefing (1789)
 •

Why control systems?

• many variables can be controlled by humans, however:
• in practice this may be
o impossible/difficult
o costly
o undesirable because of the need for continuous operation in a
hazardous environment (large forces, fast responses, etc.)
• human reaction time is about 0.3 seconds – too slow!
Theoretical analysis of control systems
• first published by Maxwell, 19th century

•
• theory enables computerized control
o industrial applications
o animation applications

Feedback is essential!
• Closed loop systems are the way to go
• Block diagram of a generic closed loop system:

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• The output can affect the input because of the feedback loop.
• The Appendix to these notes contains an example of the analysis of
a simple control system.

• Higher level control and state machines

o Consider a running human being
 o Model the human as several rigid pieces connected by hinges
 this is an articulated figure, and we will study this more
as the class progresses

•
• Prof. Jessica Hodgins (now at CMU) led many of the developments
in designing controllers to simulate human activities using
dynamically-driven articulated figures.
• People are very attuned to the subtleties of human appearance and
motion, so it’s a challenge!
• Let’s divide this task into a hierarchy of controls
o LOW LEVEL – control each joint servo (a servo is a small
motor that applies torque to a joint)
o MID LEVEL – control each phase of the gait (a gait is a
person’s manner of walking)
o HIGH LEVEL – determine where the person should run
• How do we achieve these?
o LOW LEVEL – simple closed-loop controller that has a desired
angular position or angular velocity and measures the current
angular position/velocity.
o MID LEVEL – state machines, as we discuss below
o HIGH LEVEL – Demetri Terzopoulos will discuss this on
Thursday
• First, let’s talk about what we are trying to control, i.e., the human
body
o a bunch of “rigid” pieces
o connected by joints

o
o sometimes knees and other joints can store energy (in
tendons), acting as a hinge spring
 o we need to know some data about the body

o
State machines
• running is a cyclic behavior
• at each “stage” the muscles have different roles/responsibilities
• some parts of the body may be active (i.e., a stance leg) or passive
(i.e., a swinging leg).
o The active parts achieve the desired motion,
o but the passive parts play a key role too: they move so as to
reduce the overall disturbance on the body.
• State machines may be represented in a block diagram:
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• or they may be represented in a table:
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2/15/05 10:07 AM
2/15/05 10:07 AM