Uploaded January 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Inverted pendulum, from an old A3 deskjet printer.
Got inspired few years ago from a demostrator, at Cité des sciences et de l'industrie de Paris, and once the first Arduino board arrived in our home ... the project started :-)
I tried to re-use as much as possible the printer's parts, and to make a clean design: All the signals to the car are integrated in the printer's ribbon, and the power supply is also from the printer.
Control via Arduino Mega 2560 and LM298.
Very good reference is the clip from kevin: youtube.com/watch?v=_kBZzQOslTc
Inverted pendulum, from an old A3 deskjet printer.
Got inspired few years ago from a demostrator, at Cité des sciences et de l'industrie de Paris, and once the first Arduino board arrived in our home ... the project started :-)
I tried to re-use as much as possible the printer's parts, and to make a clean design: All the signals to the car are integrated in the printer's ribbon, and the power supply is also from the printer.
Control via Arduino Mega 2560 and LM298.
Very good reference is the clip from kevin: youtube.com/watch?v=_kBZzQOslTc
![Ball balancing robot, a new approach: MirrorBallBot [Raspberry Pi, RP2040, TMC2209, stepper motors]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ORftNl7bZG4/mqdefault.jpg "Ball balancing robot, a new approach: MirrorBallBot [Raspberry Pi, RP2040, TMC2209, stepper motors]
MirrorBallBot is an innovative yet simple ball balancing robot. Most ball balancing robots place the camera either above the platform (resulting in a taller structure) or underneath it (requiring a smaller platform). I wanted neither... so I added a mirror. Problem solved!
What it can do:
- Auto-balance – keeps the ball centered
- Follow your finger on the touchscreen in real time
- Record and replay custom paths
- Predefined paths: square, circle, triangle, infinity, line
- Automatic color calibration
Open source – Python / MicroPython
All files, code, schematics, 3D printing files, and a detailed manual are linked below.
Materials cost: ~€300
Special thanks to:
- ELECROW for sponsoring the 7 DSI touchscreen
- PCBWay for sponsoring the custom PCB and supporting the DIY community
Hope you like the project! Let me know what you think.
Links:
- GitHub: [https://github.com/AndreaFavero71/mirrorballbot]
Sponsors:
- PCBWay: [https://www.pcbway.com/]
- ELECROW: [https://www.elecrow.com/7-inch-800-480-dsi-display-touch-screen-with-bracket-compatible-with-raspberry-pi.html?idd=5]
0:00 Disturbance rejection of the robot
0:10 Introduction to MirrorBallBot
0:27 Finger-follower and path recording feature
0:53 Classic camera placement
1:18 Solving the camera placement with a mirror
1:56 Predefined geometrical Paths
2:47 Touchscreen graphical interface
3:14 Calibration, and automatic ball color calibration (HSV) demo
3:35 Commercial components (stepper motors, Raspberry Pi camera, 7-inch DSI touchscreen by ELECROW)
3:51 Custom PCB (Raspberry Pi HAT) by PCBWay
4:25 Electronic (Raspberry Pi 4B, RP2040, TMC2209)
5:04 Open Source, files and conclusions
#robot
#3dprinting
#DIY
#BallBalancingRobot
#OpenSource
#RaspberryPi
#ComputerVision
# Ball Balancing Robot")
