Motion Control of Inverted Pendulum Robots Using a Kalman Filter Based Disturbance Observer

A high-speed motion control technique for inverted pendulum robots, utilizing instability and a disturbance observer, based on the Kalman filtering technique, is introduced. Inverted pendulums are basically controlled as they do not topple. Shimada and Hatakeyama developed a contrary idea and presented a controller that deliberately off balanced the robot when it moved. To implement the idea, a controller was designed using zero dynamics, which was derived by partial feedback linearization. However, the control system was not robust or sufficiently reliable. Although they presented a revised method using H∞ control law, it was complex. Shimada et al. also presented a design method for a disturbance observer using Kalman filtering. This paper presents the latest control technique, combining both control laws to solve the problem, and introduces an application with respect to inverted pendulum robots. It further shows experimental results to confirm its validity.