Zag Challenge

 

zagPicThe Spumone Zag Challenge has a lot in common with Zig. Instead of being propelled by thrusters, though, the Zag spuCraft is powered by springs.

In developing your controller, you’ll realize that getting springy oscillations to damp out quickly is done with “anticipation,” just like in Zig. However, you might find that the spuCraft parks itself some place other than the target location.

In this challenge, you will appreciate what the Final Value Theorem can tell you, and you’ll devise a simple way of fixing the steady state error.

Video: Zag Introduction

Here’s a short video to get you started.

Video: Testing a PD Controller

When you try a PD controller similar to the one that worked for Zig, you’ll find that it doesn’t quite work. In this video, we discuss the problem and I give you a hint on how to fix it.

 

Video: Final Comments on Zag Control

Now we need to boost performance and provide a safety override.