Uploaded February 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Are you worried about the rise of the machines, that robots will take control of the world? We already have intelligent A.I. systems, driverless cars, guided missiles, natural language devices in our home.... but what about the *really* important questions, like can I make a robot balance a vertical pole for longer than I can? To find out, I made an "inverted pendulum", which uses the same control system as self-balancing robots.
An angular encoder (to which the pole is attached) detects the angle that the pole is currently pointing, and also the rate of change of that angle (i.e. the speed at which the pole is rotating/falling). These values are fed to a PID controller running on an STM32 microprocessor, which calculates where the base needs to be respositioned in order to counter any momentum in the pole and move the pivot point directly under the centre of mass. A motor drives a belt pulley to move the base to that position.
#robotics #electronics #shorts
Are you worried about the rise of the machines, that robots will take control of the world? We already have intelligent A.I. systems, driverless cars, guided missiles, natural language devices in our home.... but what about the *really* important questions, like can I make a robot balance a vertical pole for longer than I can? To find out, I made an "inverted pendulum", which uses the same control system as self-balancing robots.
An angular encoder (to which the pole is attached) detects the angle that the pole is currently pointing, and also the rate of change of that angle (i.e. the speed at which the pole is rotating/falling). These values are fed to a PID controller running on an STM32 microprocessor, which calculates where the base needs to be respositioned in order to counter any momentum in the pole and move the pivot point directly under the centre of mass. A motor drives a belt pulley to move the base to that position.
#robotics #electronics #shorts
