Development of real-time control system for single-wheeled inverted pendulum platform

Wheeled inverted pendulum has been a standard benchmark in control research. It normally has two wheels to limit the unstable mode in the longitudinal direction. In this paper, wheeled inverted pendulum with only one wheel is investigated. The dynamics model is derived based on Lagrange-Euler formulation. Linear controller is then designed for balancing task and straight-line tracking task. Simulation in MATLAB is also performed to confirm the linear controller performance. Finally, a simple prototype is developed which confirms simulation results and sheds light on the many practical problems and limitations, not observable from simulation: sensor noise, sampling rate, gear backlash, static and dynamic friction, mechanical vibration, time delay and actuator saturation.