Learning Enhancement of Control Engineering: A Competition-Based Case

Abstract

The transition from academic training to professional life is not an easy task. In recent years, various learning enhancement methodologies have emerged to reduce this gap, which focuses on both soft and technical skills. Specifically, Competition-Based Learning (CBL) seeks to improve learning and motivation through the competitive component, which has detractors and defenders. In this framework, the present work proposes a national competition, CIC2022, within the field of control engineering that uses a testbed with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for helping to link theory and practice. The main objective is to analyze the results of CBL on learning. In addition to explaining the characteristics of the competition and the academic results obtained, a survey answered by participants provides conclusions on the effectiveness of the methodology and other issues related to the contest. Greater motivation and teamwork promoted the active learning of students and improved the autonomous acquisition of technical skills.

Model-Based Optimization Approach for PID Control of Pitch–Roll UAV Orientation

“…The final controllers obtained in Section 4.4 were implemented in the real platform of the UAV system. This was a part of a competition promoted by the Control Engineering Group of the Spanish Automatic Committee (CEA) [29]. The three finalist designs are labeled T1, T2 and T3, with the latter being the one proposed in this work.…”

“…A simulation environment allows us to prove control structures on a model that faithfully reproduces the behavior of the real system in order to establish a benchmark on control engineering [28]. This has been the core of the competition promoted by the Control Engineering Group of the Spanish Automatic Committee (CEA) [29]. The control strategy presented in this paper was an entry in the competition; it achieved the best result and therefore was the winner of the competition [30].…”

Plataforma giroscópica mejorada para la práctica docente en Ingeniería de control

“…Dicha plataforma ha sido empleada entre otros logros, en el Concurso de Ingeniería de Control (CIC2022) (Gallarta-Sáenz, et al 2023), que fue organizado por el Grupo de Investigación en Ingeniería de Control (ICON) de la Universidad de La Rioja en colaboración con el Grupo de Ingeniería de Control del Comité Español de Automática (CEA). En otras ediciones de este concurso, se han presentado problemas de control diversos (Bejarano et al 2019;Morilla et al, 2017).…”