Programming, Controls & SensorsModule 8 of 13

Closed-Loop Control: PID, Feedforward, and SysId

Sensors are only useful if the robot acts on them. This module teaches the math and methodology of feedback control: PID tuning, feedforward, and characterizing your mechanism with SysId.

Closed-Loop Control: PID, Feedforward, and SysId is module 8 of 13 in the Programming, Controls & Sensors guide. It picks up where Gyros, IMUs, and Orientation left off and hands over to Computer Vision and Pose Estimation. Its 4 lessons are about 145 minutes of the guide's ~30 hours.

4 lessons~145 min51 lessons in this guide

Start with lesson 1 All of Programming, Controls & Sensors

In this module

4 lessons

01Open Loop vs Closed Loop, and the PID ControllerWhat feedback control is and how the three PID terms (kP, kI, kD) shape a mechanism's response.35 min read

02A Methodical PID Tuning ProcessA repeatable, safe procedure for tuning kP, kI, and kD instead of guessing.35 min read

03Feedforward: kS, kV, kA, and kGPredicting the voltage a mechanism needs so PID only has to clean up the small remaining error.35 min read

04Characterizing a Mechanism with SysIdUsing WPILib's system identification tool to measure real kS, kV, kA, kG values instead of guessing.40 min read

Previous moduleGyros, IMUs, and Orientation

Next moduleComputer Vision and Pose Estimation

Jargon check

FRC terms used in Closed-Loop Control: PID, Feedforward, and SysId

Longer reads

Articles that go deeper on this

How to Tune PID on an FRC Robot: A Practical GuideA hands-on guide to tuning PID and feedforward on FRC mechanisms: a safe tuning order, fixing oscillation and steady-state error, and using WPILib SysId.8 min read

All 13 modules in Programming, Controls & Sensors

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