Ball and beam
Theball and beamsystem consists of a long beam which can be tilted by a servo or electric motor together with a ball rolling back and forth on top of the beam. It is a popular textbook example incontrol theory.
The significance of the ball and beam system is that it is a simple system which is open-loopunstable. Even if the beam is restricted to be very nearly horizontal, without activefeedback,it will swing to one side or the other, and the ball will roll off the end of the beam. To stabilize the ball, a control system which measures the position of the ball and adjusts the beam accordingly must be used.
In two dimensions, the ball and beam system becomes theball and platesystem, where a ball rolls on top of a plate whose inclination can be adjusted by tilting it forwards, backwards, leftwards, or rightwards.
External links
[edit]- Ball and beam with various controls strategies
- Ball and beam 1: basics
- Ball and beam with comprehensive dynamics and movies
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