Development of Arizona State University's MoSART-FAME research program

This paper describes ongoing curricular reform in the area of controls at Arizona State University (ASU). Two themes have been used to unify, promote, and guide all developments: (1) Modeling, Simulation, Animation, and Real-Time Control (MoSART) of Dynamical Systems, (2) Flexible Autonomous Machines operating in an uncertain Environment (FAME). The paper describes how these themes have been exploited to enhance the controls curriculum in Electrical Engineering (EE), Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE), and Mathematics (MAT). At the core of all developments is a new state-of-the-art lecture-laboratory-computation facility -the MoSART-FAME facility. Ongoing efforts involve a classical controls class, an associated laboratory, a follow up design class, independent study classes, the senior design capstone class, and honors thesis classes. Specific innovations include: (i) the development of interactive MoSART environments for system analysis, control design, evaluation, and 3D visualization, (ii) the development of a first-of-its kind controls hypertext that integrates MATLAB/Simulink-based simulation, 3D animation, and modern robust control ideas to address practical control system design problems, (iii) the development of a fleet of robotic land-air vehicles to serve as a multidisciplinary FAME test bed. The success of the ongoing curricular reform is discussed. Future directions are also described.