Building a two wheeled balancing robot

Abstract

Two wheeled balancing robots are an area of research that may well provide the future locomotion for everyday robots. The unique stability control that is required to keep the robot upright differentiates it from traditional forms of robotics. The inverted pendulum principle provides the mathematical modelling of the naturally unstable system. This is then utilised to develop and implement a suitable stability control system that is responsive, timely and successful in achieving this objective. Completing the design and development phase of the robot requires careful consideration of all aspects including operating conditions, materials, hardware, sensors and software. This process provides the ongoing opportunity of implementing continued improvements to its perceived operation whilst also ensuring that obvious problems and potential faults are removed before construction. The construction phase entails the manufacture and assembly of the robots circuits, hardware and chassis with the software and programming aspects then implemented. The later concludes the robots production where the final maintenance considerations can be determined. These are essential for ensuring the robots continued serviceability. The analysis and evaluation of the completed robot provides the ability to assess the robots effectiveness and efficiency in maintaining stability. This allows a comparison to be undertaken between the actual system performances and the anticipated project objectives. The opportunity to calibrate and perform additional fine tuning of the design is also explored. The project is concluded with comments on each aspect of the project with recommendations for improvement, additional capabilities and future areas of investigation.