Feedback control of a self-balancing materials handling robot

The inverted pendulum problem is well-known as a good application for control engineering. An autonomous robot can use the principle of the inverted pendulum for its design. A two-wheeled robot has both static and dynamic design considerations when using the inverted pendulum principle. This paper investigates the effect of varying mass characteristics on the step response of a self-balancing materials handling robot for application in a reconfigurable manufacturing environment. This is done to determine whether an adaptive control system needs to be designed. The responses of four states for the varying mass characteristic are examined and findings are presented.