Interrogation of Undersensing for an Underactuated Dynamical System

This paper reports on a challenging application that uses shape memory alloy (SMA) wire to function simultaneously both as actuator and sensor in an underactuated system. The study highlights the potential of SMA to operate an open-loop unstable, highly nonlinear complex dynamical system with the focus of reducing cost, weight, and system complexity. To authenticate this concept, the system under consideration is the well-known classical control problem-ball balancing beam system instrumented with self-sensing SMA wires. The proposed mechatronic system design is tuned and verified by co-simulation using automatic dynamic analysis of mechanical systems and is demonstrated in real time. The results are promising and depict the intellectual handling ability of the self-sensing SMA to stabilize and control the system, thereby establishing the merit of introducing undersensing for the control of underactuated systems.