Real Time Fuzzy Logic Controller for Balancing a Beam-and-Ball System

Abstract

Controlling a nonlinear system in real time is a challenging task which usually involves extensive mathematical formulation and intensive computation. In many cases, a linearization of the system model has to be derived first before the design of a controller, which limits the validaty of the system model. In addition, the detailed system parameters have to be known in order to perform such linearization, which can be difficult or even may not be practical in some real world applications. In this study, we demonstrated the design of a real-time fuzzy logic controller for a typical nonlinear system control application, balancing a beam-and-ball system in real time. Unlike the optimal or conventional control technique, the fuzzy logic controller requires no explicit system parameters, such as mass, torque etc., and it is characterized by its simplicity. A hardware prototyping system is built and the experimental results demonstrate the robustness of the controller. The comparative study reveals that the fuzzy logic controller outperforms optimal control based algorithm and in most cases outperforms trained human operators as well.