A Simulated Inverted Pendulum to Investigate Human Sensorimotor Control

Sensorimotor control regulates balance and stability as well as adaptation to the external environment. We introduce the use of a simulated inverted pendulum to study human sensorimotor control, demonstrating that this system introduces similar control challenges to human subjects as a physical inverted pendulum. Participants exhibited longer stabilization of the system as the pendulum length between the hand and the center of mass increased while the required control input varied in a non-monotonic, yet predictable manner. Finally, we show that the experimental results can be modelled as a PD controller with a time delay of $\tau = 140$ ms, matching the human visuomotor delay. Our results provide evidence of the importance of vision in a control of unstable systems and serve as a proof of concept of a simulated inverted pendulum.