Control of an inverted pendulum using an Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite actuator

Ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs) are electroactive materials that bend under an applied electric field. Existing work has typically dealt with the control of IPMC actuators themselves. In this paper we investigate the stabilization of an inverted pendulum on a cart using an IPMC actuator. Different from the traditional setting of cart-pendulum systems, we require that the voltage on the IPMC actuator stay close to zero, to prolong the actuator life and reduce power consumption. A state-space model is developed for the system, based on which an LQR controller together with an observer is designed. The proposed control scheme is able to stabilize the inverted pendulum for the entire duration of the experiment (five minutes). These results indicate that IPMC actuators hold potential for more sophisticated control applications.