**3.1 Mechatronics, measurements & instrumentation courses**

The objectives of the LEGO Mindstorms projects are:


The mechatronic design projects assigned in mechatronics course involve students' teams designing and developing mobile robotic platforms using Lego components. The activities will not only inspire students' creativity but also enhance their strength in engineering design course

## **3.2 Pilot programming**

The RCX programming software has two options or phases. These are Pilot and Inventor. Pilot is the introductory section of the ROBOLAB software. A "click and choose" interface is utilized within a template. There are four levels of Pilot and these serve as an introduction to

Lego Based Computer Communication for Business and Learning 75

The rotational motion of the pendulum body about its center of gravity can be described by

2 2 cos 2 sin

where I is the moment of inertia of the pendulum body about its center of gravity. The horizontal force, vertical force and torque are applied as pairs on both sides and each pair is

> 2 <sup>2</sup> <sup>2</sup> sin *<sup>d</sup> H M xl dt*

*I Hl Vl*

 22 2 

2*H Mx l*

The objective here is to find suitable ordinary differential equations that fully describe the

<sup>2</sup> 2 0

<sup>2</sup> 2 0

These equations describe the motion of the system and constitute the two-dimensional linearized mathematical model of the system. Finally this set of equations can be expressed

> 00 1 0 0 00 0 1 0 0 3 0 4

*AAA B*

32 33 34 42 43 44

*x B AAA x*

*x x*

 

*J rM lM I rMl Ml rm x Mgl r*

*J rM lM I rMl ml rm x Mgl r*

*r*

 

 describes how to characterize the essence of the system in two differential equations.

2 2 *R J rM R Ml K rm x x K K r K r*

and their derivatives , *x*

 

2 2 *J rM rMl rm x*

> > 2

2

 

*Hl Vl* (3)

(5)

(6)

2*V Mg* (7)

(9)

 

> 

(11)

(10)

(8)

(4)

. The following formulae

(12)

*I*

assumed to be equal because only two-dimensional motion was considered.

**4.4 Body dynamics**

The horizontal motion is given by:

The linearised equations are:

**4.5 System dynamics**

system in terms of input v, the states *x*,

Finally the overall equation yields:

in a more convenient state space form:

ROBOLAB programming. Level 1 is the easiest and Level 4 has more flexibility. Each level builds on the previous one. There are limitations within this section but it is a simple way for users to become familiar with the software. The Pilot Level 1 template is a simple task that introduces students to the programming features of ROBOLAB. Each level of Pilot provides additional flexibility and options. Students will always be successful in their programming within Pilot.
