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Degree Course in

Automation Engineering and Control of Complex Systems

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Rooms and Labs

Lectures are held in rooms and laboratories of DIEEI. The rooms where lectures are held are indicated in the lecture time tables in the page "Lecture scheduling".

To develop class practical exercises and thesis, the MSc program uses the didactic and research laboratories illustrated in the following.

 

Laboratory Activities: Control of complex systems and networks of nonlinear circuits. Research and teaching activities are aimed at:

  • Design, implementation, characterization, and control of nonlinear circuits and networks of nonlinear circuits exhibiting complex behavior

  • Design, implementation, characterization, and control of vibrational electromechanical systems

  • Numerical analysis and development of models and control techniques for networked dynamical systems

Equipments: Fully equipped work stations including oscilloscopes, function generators, dual power supplies, multi-channel data acquisition boards, and a workstation equipped with a dynamic signal analyzer. One workstation equipped with a thermal imaging camera, multi-channel data acquisition boards, and a dedicated PC.

 

Laboratory Activities: Robotics. Research and teaching activities are carried out in the following areas:

  • Mobile and service robots: Analysis, design, experimental development, implementation, and testing of robotic systems; control and navigation algorithms and architectures, sensing systems, and terrain traversability

  • Drones and Unmanned Vehicles: Control architectures, terrain mapping, UAV–UGV cooperation, drone swarms, autonomous landing

  • Industrial robotics: Additive manufacturing, computer vision–based control architectures, MEMS sensing systems for manipulator control

Applications in: Agriculture, medicine, industrial inspection, volcanology, search and rescue, ambient assisted living

Equipments: Electrical and electronic instrumentation; small mechanical workshop; three KUKA industrial manipulators; professional TIG welding station; several prototypes of mobile robots and fixed-wing and multirotor UAVs.

 

Laboratory Activities: Research and teaching activities focused on the development of micro- and nano-sensors, polymer-based sensors, sensors manufactured using rapid prototyping technologies, embedded measurement systems, and systems for the characterization of sensors and transducers.

Equipments: Measurement stations including function generators, oscilloscopes, and power supplies; signal acquisition and analysis stations consisting of PCs and data acquisition boards; solutions for the development of automated measurement systems; a workstation for the design and characterization of integrated systems; stations for the design and characterization of polymer sensors; a workstation for the development and characterization of sensors fabricated using inkjet printing technology; a station for rapid prototyping of sensors. A dual-column SEM-FIB electron microscope for nanolithography, analysis, and rapid prototyping of micro- and nano-systems.

 

Laboratory Activities: Microfluidics. The following activities are carried out:

  • Experimental investigations under controlled conditions for the study and identification of processes, integrating an illumination and optical tracking system for laser actuation of bubbles/particles in microchannels, with parallel monitoring through signal acquisition and video recording.

  • Development and testing of control methodologies and technologies that do not rely on discrete optical components (such as lenses and objectives), enabling direct fiber-optic interfacing between the microfluidic process and actuation/illumination systems (fiber-coupled lasers), as well as point monitoring devices (photodiodes, spectrophotometers, power meters).

  • Microfluidic systems based on syringe pumps (providing volume-controlled operation) or piezoelectric pumps (generating peristaltic inlet flows).

Equipments: Actuation and monitoring systems based on standard optics and laser technologies, mechanical systems for experimentation on biochemical processes in microfluidics, and benchtop instrumentation for handling chemical reagents.

 

Laboratory Activities: Biorobotics. Research and teaching activities are carried out aimed at:

  • Study, design, and implementation of bio-inspired robotic systems (robotic structures with bodies mimicking biological counterparts) and neuro-inspired systems (robots controlled by algorithms based on biologically inspired neural network models).

  • Development of software and hardware for new biologically inspired neuron models for the control of locomotion in bio-robots.

  • Modeling and software implementation of networks of nonlinear dynamical systems for generating perceptual states in bio-robots.

Equipments: Power supplies, signal generators, oscilloscopes, soldering stations and workbenches for electronic board assembly; workstations for simulation of artificial and biologically inspired neural networks and for dynamic simulation of bio-inspired and neuro-inspired robots.

Laboratory Activities: Industrial Automation. Research and teaching activities are conducted in the field of industrial automation.

Equipments:

  • 6 Schneider Electric M254 PLC units with software licenses

  • 6 Siemens S7-1200 PLC units with software licenses

  • Italiano