Combining control design tools - from modeling to implementation

Good tools are needed in order to develop robotic systems efficiently. Today, in addition to CAD/CAM, there are tools for model derivation, control design and implementation. There are also tools for exporting models to a control design environment, as well as from control design to implementation. It is however, still difficult to combine these tools, especially when working with large systems. We have therefore combined, interfaced and augmented some of these tools into a method that bridges the gaps between automatic model derivation and control implementation. Analytically derived functions are used for control design, simulation, visualization, evaluation (MATLAB) and implementation. The method and tools are illustrated by application to a four-legged robot in both simulation and reality. Generality is also exemplified by applying the method to a simulated SCARA robot.