A Ball and Beam Testbed for Fuzzy Identification and Control Design

This paper describes a case study from conception through final experimental design of a ball and beam testbed for comparison of conventional and fuzzy control techniques. Control objectives include quick and accurate positioning of the ball to a specified location along the platform. Conventional linear control techniques were employed in simulation and then applied to the experimental apparatus. For comparison purposes, techniques in fuzzy control were utilized in developing alternative control algorithms. Significant non-linearities, such as discrete position sensing capabilities, are designed into the experiemtnal ball and beam apparatus in order to compare control effectiveness when transfering control designs from simulation to a real world testbed.