Design and Development of a Hybrid Feedback Control System for an RF Remote-Controlled Robot

With the widespread diffusion of digital computers, hybrid control systems combine discrete as well as continuous systems by means of computer software in order to control physical processes. This paper presents the design and development of a computer-based feedback control system for an RF remote-controlled robot. The robot is wirelessly connected to a transmitter/receiver circuit through two RF remote control units ensuring fast and reliable five-bit, two-way communication. The transmitter/receiver circuit is connected to the parallel (LPT1) port of a PC running a Java (TM) application. The program provides two functionalities for the robot: a closed-loop control system that allows the robot to automatically follow a line, and an open-loop system that allows the user to manually control the robot through a Graphical User Interface (GUI). The computer-based feedback control system is a demonstration of a reactive hybrid system where flexible computer instructions form the logic unit that controls a continuous process. The system can be easily modified to enhance the capabilities of the robot and use different control laws and principles, thus ascertaining that hybrid control systems are highly accurate, reliable, and most importantly flexible.