Challenge:
Design a control system to balance a cube on its edge

Description:
The purpose of this system is to balance a cube on one of its edges, with no direct angle measurement. Internally, a powered pendulum is used to apply a torque to the body of the cube. A piezoceramic gyroscope is used to sense the rate of rotation of the cube. No measurement of the actual cube angle is available. The only other available measurement is the relative angle between the pendulum and the cube. This experiment is ideal for studying state estimation and nonlinear control.

A “training wheel” is supplied with the system that allows you to measure the fall angle if you wish to design controllers that use full measurement – it just does not look as interesting – and is much easier to control.

Difficulty:
Undergraduate advanced / Graduate

• Process Control and Mechatronics Product Range