Our final project called for the construction of a self-balancing inverted pendulum cart. This a classical example of a system in unstable equilibrium and is a staple of controls textbooks.The final design consists of a four wheeled cart driven by a motor via a pulley with a 1 meter pendulum. This system implements dual control systems: the first being a manual system in which a potentiometer is truned by the user to control the input voltage to the motorand the second being a proportional-differential (PD) controller constructed from op-amp circuits. Further project details can be found on the mechanical, circuitry and results pages.

The ultimate goal of this project is to be used for demonstration purposes. It will allow the user to show an audience that an inverted pendulum can be maintained in an unstable equilibrium using a PD controller. Also, using the variable gains the system provides, the effects of raising or lowering the proportional and differential gains can be easily shown.

Inverted Pendulum Team: Brian Korte (left) and Brian Halaburka (right) with the cart.