A hands-on experimental laboratory for undergraduate courses in automatic control

An experimental laboratory for undergraduate courses in automatic control has been created at the Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy, to provide students with an environment where theoretical concepts can be applied, and the "look and feel" of a real-world problem, though small and simple, can be experienced. The laboratory is meant both for the basic course, titled Fundamentals of Automatic Control, and for advanced ones. Peculiar to the setup is the large number of students involved, with 72 experimental workstations being managed simultaneously. This paper describes the design, implementation, and use of the laboratory until now, dealing with the present experimental setup and the integration of laboratory assignments and lectures.