STASIA

STASIA is a two-wheeled self-balancing robot. The dynamics of the STASIA are similar to a classic control problem, the inverted pendulum. It uses stepper motors in each wheel powered by an external supply. Balance is achieved using feedback from the gyroscope and the accelerometer on the IMU board. The wheels are driven forward or backward as needed to return the robot’s pitch to the upright position – which is the set point around which this system has been linearized. Find the video demonstration by clicking on the image thumbnail to the left(/top).

The objective of this project is to demonstrate the control of an underactuated nonlinear system – the inverted pendulum – through a two-wheeled robot designed to emulate this phenomenon. The robot is capable of moving along one axis in the directions of propagation provided by the wheels without falling. Disturbance rejection – the disturbance is induced in the form of a finger-nudge onto one of the faces of the robot control system – is demonstrated in the video.