How can you explain Robotics control theory to someone without a technical background?

When talking to people with a non technical background you are dealing with two types of people. People that are interested in the topic. For those it is typically enough to show basic examples. Something like controlling a simple velocity controller in 1D can do the job. The second type is the people you work with. Very ofter people that have to sell or market robots. Here i advise to make practical real world examples for you specific application and to ask youself what knowledge the person requires and explain exactly this. Also again simplified examples can do a great job. The rest flows naturally as you well get more specific questions if you make a good job explaining. Your answers should always help them to do their job better

To explain Robotics Control Theory to non-technical people I usually explain this concept using real-world examples. Like, Imagine a runner nearing the finish line of a race. They're sprinting, but when they see the line close, they gradually adjust their pace, slowing down smoothly to stop precisely at the finish. This controlled slowdown is similar to how a control system works in robotics. It takes in information about a task and adjusts the actions of a machine or system to achieve a desired outcome.

One aspect of robotics control theory that differentiates itself from other control theories is a type of mathematics called "inverse kinematics", which is a tool that uses the length and linkages of a robot sytem to calculate the robot position in easy to use coordinates then predict how much motion is required at each motion point to move the linkages to the next coordinate position. The controller then executes the motion needed to achieve this new coordinate position, state or goal.

When discussing robotics control theory with someone who doesn’t have a technical background, it's essential to break down the concepts into relatable, easy-to-understand terms. Think of control theory as a remote control for a toy car. Just as you use the remote to steer and speed up the car, control theory in robotics involves sending commands to guide the robot’s movements and actions.

An important thing to understand is that robots are the same as every other system in the world - you need to do something to get some "reaction" from a robot. That what you put "in" is characterized as inputs, and what you get "out" are outputs. In most cases, they are not straightforward, which means that a robot (or a system in general) has some internal states. A good example is mobile robots with input commands, output movement, and internal states like battery status. And as with a human, we have many or such input-state-output systems in a robot that are sometimes independent. Control theory helps to understand those, find the most relevant ones, and provides options how to manipulate (control) them.

There are multiple types of control. For example, open-loop control means that there is no sensor feedback, for example, when we try to grasp something with closed eyes. Then closed loop humans use when grasping something that we can see and finally, adaptive control is based on past experiences that modify the behavior over time. For example, we can learn that if we see steam from a cup, we can assume that is hot and we will pick it up slower then if it is empty or water is inside.

There are many different applications for robotics control, including: - Industrial automation: robots are used to automate tasks like assembly, packaging, and welding in factories. - Medical robotics: robots are used in hospitals and clinics to assist with surgeries and other medical procedures. - Service robotics: robots are used in homes and businesses to assist with tasks like cleaning, delivery, and caregiving. - Military robotics: robots are used in military applications to assist with tasks like surveillance, reconnaissance, and search-and-rescue. These are just a few examples - robotics is being used in many different ways . I make posts about all application of robotics, Follow

There are good books to learn control: - Feedback Control of Dynamic Systems (Gene F. Franklin) - Modern Control Engineering (Katsuhiko Ogata) I believe that studying classical approaches based on the frequency domain and modern approaches based on state space can provide a good foundation for solving and understanding most of the problems involving control.

Imagine you want to grab an apple in front of you. What do you do first ? You look for the apple, figure out how far away the apple is and then use your arm to grab the apple. But to use your arm, your brain did a lot of work. The brain had to think about how much force and what kind of movements are needed for you to reach the apple. Similarly, if the task is to be done by the robot, the robot needs to calculate how to move its muscles (actuators) effectively so that it can pick up the apple without falling. This process by the robot to effectively do the task is implemented by the concept of control theory which is like the brain of the robot.

Grasping something is also an excellent example of how humans use multi-sensor input to execute the task. A similar thing is with the robots.