On trajectory tracking control of the inertia wheel pendulum

This paper deals with motion control of the inertia wheel pendulum. Specifically, we address a trajectory tracking problem. The proposed control algorithm is derived from feedback linearization, with the output of the system defined as the tracking error between a desired reference trajectory and the angular position of the inverted pendulum. The explicit expressions of the internal dynamics and zero-dynamics are obtained, where can be observed that the stability of the internal dynamics depends on the desired trajectory. Experimental evaluation of the proposed controller is presented, where we show that the trajectory tracking is accomplished for both upward and downward pendulum position, while the wheel velocity remains into the actuator constraints.