DESIGN OF SELF BALANCING

ROBOT

By,
Mohan Kumar(RA1511002020020)
Akash.A.B (RA1511002020019)
Harsha Varadhan(RA1511002020017)
Kesava Rao(RA1511002020058)
INTRODUCTION

We, since childhood, have inherently and unknowingly been

practicing to balance various objects. It may be balancing
stick on palm, moving with a glass of water filled upto the
brim, walking on a narrow wall, cycling, etc. All of it requires
a balancing algorithm for which we have trained our brain to
do so. Similar examples can be quoted from industrial
applications like Segway, loading machines at shipyard,
robotic applications, etc. We, in this project, were working on
a similar concept with a focus on transportation industry and
affordability. Over the years, this industry has been evolving,
rolling out various innovative products in the market. There
has also been a constant focus on customers needs and
demands. This thesis of ours will focus on small spectrum of
personalized mobile platform, primarily for
physically challenged people for the Indian market.
During the course of this project, we will be making a scaled
down version of the same to prove the concept, incurring
minimum cost. To be more precise, it is a two-wheeled
platform with a dummy weight at the top symbolizing a
person, required to balance vertically and be able to move in
desired direction. A similar concept being studied since long
is an experimental setup known as Inverted Pendulum. It is a
common control system implementation. It is a system with
mass above its pivot point. While a normal pendulum is stable
hanging downwards, an inverted pendulum is inherently
unstable. For an inverted pendulum to balance, it is required
to continuously take the feedback of its tilt from its unstable
equilibrium position and correct it by applying external force,
which, in our case, is done by actuating a motor. In our case,
we need to balance the pendulum about its unstable
equilibrium. Hence, any disturbance needs to be quantifiably
detected and instantly corrected by an external force. There is
a limited disturbance angle beyond which it may be
mathematically impossible to get it back to its equilibrium
position with any amount of external force. Its quite difficult
to hold a pen in your hand and balance it. But to do the same
thing with a broom in your hand, its relatively simple. The
reason is that there is more time to compensate. For that
reason its actually easier the higher we are off the ground.
There are various control algorithms widely used for such
applications. We have used a PID controller in our case.

MOTIVATION

Over past few years, we have seen the transportation industry

grow and providing its customers with innovative solutions in
personalized mobile platforms. But, less was focus on
physically challenged people. Our focus in this thesis will be
towards trying to engineer a personalized mobile vehicle for
physically challenged people and design it in away keeping in
mind their inherent constraints. At the same time, the vehicle
will be designed with affordability as one of the deciding
factors in coming up with the design and manufacturing
process.

SCOPE

As it is not possible for us to come up with a full scale, robust

and aesthetic product in the given time frame, we will be
concentrating on making a scaled down version of the
experimental setup to prove the concept and affordability.
During the process, we will be taking a standard literature of
inverted pendulum on an experimental basis and make a two-
wheeled personalized mobile platform, which could travel in
the desired direction by sensing either the external control
signals or the tilt of the rider, which will be a dummy weight
in our experiment. This
inverted pendulum, being free to move in any translational dir
ection and rotate about its ownvertical axis, has 7 state spaces
that determine it completely. For the theoretical analysis,

We will consider cart and a pendulum problem and try to

simulate our problem with stated assumptions. For balancing
this system, there are various controllers that can be used. We,
in our case, will be using PID controllers, which is a common
and basic of all. We will be stating a standard protocol to
manually tune the PID controller as per our needs with
varying physical parameters. Because of limited resources
available, the setup will be limited to balance and traverse
only on flat surfaces, not even on inclined planes. Scaling it
up to commercially launch it in the market will require scaling
up of hardware as well as electronics. Power requirements for
the battery and current ratings of the motor driver will go up
proportionally. Motors will require having higher torque and
speed. Sensor should be able to detect tilt independent of the
ground in order for the set up to work in all-terrain. Hardware
will need to be stronger for it to be able to support an average
human beings weight. Aesthetics and ergonomics will play
an important role when placing the same in the consumer
market.
OBJECTIVE
Objective of this project to demonstrate a working prototype
(scaled down version) of a personalized mobile platform
which can move in desired direction of travel inclusive oftrans
lation and rotation while at the same time balancing itself
vertically in a smooth fashion.