Video and Webinar Series

How a Differential Equation Becomes a Robot

This six-part webinar series will examine how a simple second-order differential equation can evolve into a complex dynamic model of a multiple-degrees-of-freedom robotic manipulator that includes the controls, electronics, and three-dimensional mechanics of the complete system. The system is developed using the single, integrated environment provided by the MATLAB® and Simulink® product families.

Highlights of the series include:

  • Creating equations of motion using the MuPAD® interface in Symbolic Math Toolbox™
  • Modeling complex electromechanical systems using Simulink and the physical modeling libraries
  • Importing three-dimensional mechanisms directly from CAD packages using the SimMechanics™ translator
  • Design, tune, and optimize controllers directly in your Simulink model using Control System Toolbox™ and Optimization Toolbox™
  • Prototyping and testing your real-time system directly in hardware with Simulink Real-Time™

Overview In this webinar we will show how the suite of MathWorks tools complement and enhance each other, and how when combining them together, the user can unleash the full potential of our complete development environment.

Rigid Body Dynamics Model three-dimensional mechanical systems. Develop symbolic expressions and equations of motion, and build dynamic models that can be used for numeric simulation. Directly import mechanisms from popular CAD packages.

Control Systems Design controllers for electro-mechanical systems. Linearize your plant and automatically tune PID gains. Optimize multiple controller gains and the overall system performance directly on the non-linear simulation model.

Forward and Inverse Kinematics Perform basic kinematic analysis. Bring results of symbolic studies into the Simulink environment. Apply general optimization techniques. Generate reports automatically and create standalone applications.

Hardware Prototyping Automatically generate C-code from your Simulink models, and interface with real-time hardware to perform typical rapid prototyping tasks.