A MINIATURE STEAM VEHICLE: A NONHOLONOMIC MOBILE PLATFORM FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF SIGNAL CONDITIONING CIRCUITS JOÃO C. CASALEIRO 1 , TIAGO S. OLIVEIRA 2 , MIGUEL C. GOMES 3 , ANTÓNIO C. PINTO 4 , PEDRO V. FAZENDA 5 1,2,3,4,5 Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa, DEETC, SEA, CEDET 1 joao.casaleiro@cedet.isel.ipl.pt This document describes a small steam vehicle built by students and teachers which is in use in one specific course context focused in applied electronics. This vehicle was built with a steam engine and all the necessary gears to transmit movement to the driving wheels. Several sensors and actuators were also included. This apparatus may be observed as a simple nonholonomic mobile platform for exercising the development of signal conditioning circuits and control algorithms. 1. Introduction This document describes an apparatus that may be observed as a simple nonholonomic mobile platform for exercising the development of signal conditioning circuits and control algorithms. This apparatus is in fact a small steam vehicle made from standard Meccano parts (aprox. 30 cm length), which was built by students and teachers. It is actually in use in one specific course context focused in applied electronics. This vehicle has a steam engine and all the necessary gears to transmit movement to the driving wheels. Several sensors and actuators were also included and a black-and-white camera was placed near the front bumper of the vehicle. Sensors and actuators with minimal built-in signal conditioning (or no signal conditioning at all) were chosen so that students may conceive their own circuits. The idea is to use this apparatus as a test bench for some of the topics covered in the course. Figure 1 presents a photo of this vehicle. The trailer is not always used, but it might be necessary to carry circuit boards or batteries. A schematic diagram of the vehicle showing the set of sensors and actuators is depicted in figure 2. Figure 1: Photo of the steam vehicle. 2. Sensors and Actuators When using the platform in this course context students are challenged to pursuit some goal. To achieve it, they must foresee a list of tasks. To fulfil these tasks students may choose to use a subset of