Control Systems Engineer

This is what FRC is all about. connecting everyone in a company to make the result.

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Control Systems Engineer

This is what FRC is all about. connecting everyone in a company to make the result.

Control Systems Engineer

You (or your student) may not realize it, but robotics class is parallel to a control systems engineer; they work in every corner of a company to produce a result. On our team that result is a robot that meets the rules/games specifications.

Watch the following video and think of the many many ways our students interact between teams of electrical/build/marketing/purchasing/welding/Design/architect to accomplish their goal (and goals can be very complex and multi faceted!!!). Doing this well shows that your student has an amazing concept of each teams job and how to apply their skills to the project as a whole.

As of Sep 17, 2024, the average annual pay for a Control Systems Engineer in the United States is $108,776 a year.

Just in case you need a simple salary calculator, that works out to be approximately $52.30 an hour. This is the equivalent of $2,091/week or $9,064/month.

In Berkeley, CA the annual pay for a control system engineer is $141,708 or $68.13 an hour.

Some in Class Learning

What is a control system engineer?
1. They are the glue that brings everyone else together.
2. Must have a big picture mind that is able to run simulations in their head or make them in a computer.
3. They need to understand each part of the system and all team members jobs, but doesn't NEED to know everything of every team member.
Who do they work with?
1. Marketing is selling a solution to a problem ( FRC: this is the game design ) Without marketing your company makes no sales. But they often don't entirely understand weather or not what they have sold is possible.
2. Customer Requirements - These are a set of parameters the customers things they need. (in FRC this is "shoot the goal" or "climb the rope"). This is always nebulous and is the problem to be solved. sometimes these requirements must be followed perfectly, sometimes they need to be bypassed with a novel idea never seen before. Sometimes they can be completely ignored (i.e. 2024 many teams went to world finals with NO trap mechanism).
3. Engineers that are telling you whats possible (in FRC this may be mentors or experts in the field) (Example: shoot the goal - we can spool flywheels but we don't have the energy to build a rail-gun mechanism).
4. Company bosses - Is it cheap? Available? Is it worth selling? (FRC this is your mentors)
5. Customer - Doesn't know any of the above, wants results (gets requirements from their internal teams but may not understand them) (FRC these are your parents).
  1. If the customer isn't happy with the results this can lead to losing an entire contract or job, they may need education on if their expectations are realistic, but in the end they make the decision on your project.
-> Practice Concept formulation (Phase 1 : make a very high level and simplified Process Layout)
1. How to make a Skibidi toilet? What is needed for its operation?
2. Quad copter drone? What sensors does it need? What output will those sensors drive?
3. Describe pizza Joe (or any previous robot) and its concept (The game is the requirements).
4. Do the parts exist to accomplish this newly formulated concept? Does REV / CTRE / Andy-mark sell anything you have imagined? Whatever is designed MUST BE FEASIBLE IN REAL LIFE!!! (if it isn't, can you make it feasible with a new invention or paradigm?)
Development cycle (Phase 2 : concepts/discussion/meetings)
1. Design -> Implementation -> Evaluation
  1. What features on pizza Joe (or any previous robot) followed this lifecycle during development? (hint : pizza Joe originally was planned to use climber in a box, what did we end up using? what are different and what needed to be changed between these engineered systems?)
Development Cycle Phase 3 : Test and verification (development cycle evaluation but with real hardware)
1. Assemble -> Implementation -> Evaluation -> Redesign ->
2. Real hardware is now needed because NO one formula can truly simulate real life.
3. Hardware (real world) testing is needed to become confident in results. Is it strong enough? fast enough? good enough?
4. Not every final system is needed, you can breakdown separate smaller systems and run specific test. Such as only testing robot arm motion and joint positions (kinematics) and not using any AI or detection systems, this doeskin even need to be on robot!
Operation Cycle (Phase 4: development cycle after completion)
1. When the customers use the process, does it still behave as expected?
2. In FRC we test everything in house, but when we get to competition everything is WRONG, what happened? what can we do? Phase 3 never ended. Evaluate the results with data from advantage scope and Redesign. You may be able to correct it in software, or just add a few zip ties, but sometimes a complete rebuild is the only way to satisfy the customer.

Some Control Theory Concepts

Open/Closed Loop Controls

What parts of our robot were open loop?

During Auton : which robots used closed loop systems and which robots are using open loop? Sometimes its not easy to know sometimes it is.
With 2:10 left Magi tech shoots and scores. open loop or closed loop? We may not know but we can guess.
At 2:10 alpha-bots are picking up a piece from the floor. open or closed loop? how would it work if were not that? would it work?
At 1:59 the alpha bots shoot and score. Open loop or closed loop? What are the advantages and disadvantages (this question must be answered in the context of the competition and not in general).
At 1:40 T-Town tech and the alpha- bots have a collision on the field, the alpha bots seem to recover faster but T-Town had to spin around and re-orientate, what might be a few differences that may have lead to this. Which drive train is very likely closed loop vs open loop? (Alpha bots the answer is complicated but just stay simple).
At 1:31 Magi tech and the alpha-bots are on opposite ends of the field in-taking from the substation, which one is closed vs open loop.
At 35 seconds T-Town and alpha-bots go for end game climbs. open loop vs closed loop, who has what?

Do we want open loop or closed loop? Is it always that answer? Pros and Cons (in the context of FRC).

PreviousKick-Off and Rushed-Design NextParts Suppliers

Last updated 4 months ago

Was this helpful?

Control Systems Engineer

As of Sep 17, 2024, the average annual pay for a Control Systems Engineer in the United States is $108,776 a year.

Just in case you need a simple salary calculator, that works out to be approximately $52.30 an hour. This is the equivalent of $2,091/week or $9,064/month.

In Berkeley, CA the annual pay for a control system engineer is $141,708 or $68.13 an hour.

Some in Class Learning

What is a control system engineer?
1. They are the glue that brings everyone else together.
2. Must have a big picture mind that is able to run simulations in their head or make them in a computer.
3. They need to understand each part of the system and all team members jobs, but doesn't NEED to know everything of every team member.
Who do they work with?
1. Marketing is selling a solution to a problem ( FRC: this is the game design ) Without marketing your company makes no sales. But they often don't entirely understand weather or not what they have sold is possible.
2. Customer Requirements - These are a set of parameters the customers things they need. (in FRC this is "shoot the goal" or "climb the rope"). This is always nebulous and is the problem to be solved. sometimes these requirements must be followed perfectly, sometimes they need to be bypassed with a novel idea never seen before. Sometimes they can be completely ignored (i.e. 2024 many teams went to world finals with NO trap mechanism).
3. Engineers that are telling you whats possible (in FRC this may be mentors or experts in the field) (Example: shoot the goal - we can spool flywheels but we don't have the energy to build a rail-gun mechanism).
4. Company bosses - Is it cheap? Available? Is it worth selling? (FRC this is your mentors)
5. Customer - Doesn't know any of the above, wants results (gets requirements from their internal teams but may not understand them) (FRC these are your parents).
  1. If the customer isn't happy with the results this can lead to losing an entire contract or job, they may need education on if their expectations are realistic, but in the end they make the decision on your project.
-> Practice Concept formulation (Phase 1 : make a very high level and simplified Process Layout)
1. How to make a Skibidi toilet? What is needed for its operation?
2. Quad copter drone? What sensors does it need? What output will those sensors drive?
3. Describe pizza Joe (or any previous robot) and its concept (The game is the requirements).
4. Do the parts exist to accomplish this newly formulated concept? Does REV / CTRE / Andy-mark sell anything you have imagined? Whatever is designed MUST BE FEASIBLE IN REAL LIFE!!! (if it isn't, can you make it feasible with a new invention or paradigm?)
Development cycle (Phase 2 : concepts/discussion/meetings)
1. Design -> Implementation -> Evaluation
  1. What features on pizza Joe (or any previous robot) followed this lifecycle during development? (hint : pizza Joe originally was planned to use climber in a box, what did we end up using? what are different and what needed to be changed between these engineered systems?)
Development Cycle Phase 3 : Test and verification (development cycle evaluation but with real hardware)
1. Assemble -> Implementation -> Evaluation -> Redesign ->
2. Real hardware is now needed because NO one formula can truly simulate real life.
3. Hardware (real world) testing is needed to become confident in results. Is it strong enough? fast enough? good enough?
4. Not every final system is needed, you can breakdown separate smaller systems and run specific test. Such as only testing robot arm motion and joint positions (kinematics) and not using any AI or detection systems, this doeskin even need to be on robot!
Operation Cycle (Phase 4: development cycle after completion)
1. When the customers use the process, does it still behave as expected?
2. In FRC we test everything in house, but when we get to competition everything is WRONG, what happened? what can we do? Phase 3 never ended. Evaluate the results with data from advantage scope and Redesign. You may be able to correct it in software, or just add a few zip ties, but sometimes a complete rebuild is the only way to satisfy the customer.

Some Control Theory Concepts

Open/Closed Loop Controls

Here is a short video on Open/Closed Loop

What parts of our robot were open loop?

Example of Open/Closed Loop Robots from 2024 :

During Auton : which robots used closed loop systems and which robots are using open loop? Sometimes its not easy to know sometimes it is.
With 2:10 left Magi tech shoots and scores. open loop or closed loop? We may not know but we can guess.
At 2:10 alpha-bots are picking up a piece from the floor. open or closed loop? how would it work if were not that? would it work?
At 1:59 the alpha bots shoot and score. Open loop or closed loop? What are the advantages and disadvantages (this question must be answered in the context of the competition and not in general).
At 1:40 T-Town tech and the alpha- bots have a collision on the field, the alpha bots seem to recover faster but T-Town had to spin around and re-orientate, what might be a few differences that may have lead to this. Which drive train is very likely closed loop vs open loop? (Alpha bots the answer is complicated but just stay simple).
At 1:31 Magi tech and the alpha-bots are on opposite ends of the field in-taking from the substation, which one is closed vs open loop.
At 35 seconds T-Town and alpha-bots go for end game climbs. open loop vs closed loop, who has what?

Do we want open loop or closed loop? Is it always that answer? Pros and Cons (in the context of FRC).