Low-cost hardware & control design of an inverted pendulum using conventional, fuzzy and hybrid techniques

Inverted pendulum is a highly non-linear system, which makes it a complex control problem that may be articulated for various real-life applications. Usually, its linearized model is implemented and controlled using a typical Proportional-Integral-Derivate (PID) controller but a different controller is required to control the actual, non-linear model. In the current work, we aim to develop an indigenous and experimental hardware platform to implement conventional PID, Fuzzy and Hybrid techniques. Hardware setup of this model is implemented on a 4-wheeler mobile cart with an inverted rod mechanism (pendulum). Control circuit is implemented through Arduino and associated control circuitry. The controller is simulated on MATLAB/Simulink and implemented on this hardware platform to validate minimum possible deflection of pendulum from a reference vertical position using PID, Fuzzy and hybrid control schemes. Results are promising from an FLC scheme applied on the close to real non-linear model of the system.