| Motivation, rationale and results |
This
research concerns tools for control teaching activity, mainly
experimental but also simulation-based. Particular emphasis is set on
low-cost solutions, for example based on toys as host environment for
the realisation of didactic industrial regulators and PLCs. Open-source
didactic model libraries for control experiments, both simulated and
physical, were also created. Recently, emphasis was set on how to make students reach a firm grasp of the relationships between the model of a controller and the corresponding code. This is viewed both as an important didactic activity by itself, and as a further means to close the cultural gap between the "control" and the "computer" communities, whose language differences are surely a relevant obstacle for convergences like that envisaged in the research topic on computing systems just described. Also, didactic activities for computer engineering students to properly relate themselves to systems and control are being designed and maintained - an activity initially carried out at the PhD level, and now directed to earlier stages as well in the education path. |
| Outlook and vision |
Using
education to close the gap between control specialists and those who
need control may become an important theme in the future. The needs
exhibited by domains such as computers and communications provide clear
evidence of this. Responding properly with control eduation will be an
important subject to address. |