Ballbot Matlab Control Simulation

Matlab simulation of the CMU Ballbot

Install

1. Move ot the direction ballbot_ctrl_sim
2. Run the script install_ballbot_sim.m.

Dependencies

Name	Description
ballbot_viz	Matlab ballbot animation and visualization tools

Models Available

Running Examples

Example simulation are stored in the direction ballbot_ctrl_sim/examples. You can run any script inside it and it should simulate ballbot.

If you want to simulate ballbot with your own controller I suggest creating a very similar script to the one in the examples directory.

Changing Model Parameters

Ballbot model parameteres are stored in models\get_ballbot2D_model_params.m

Feel free to change the values in this script to match your system

Making Your Own Controllers

To make your own conntroller you need to create a new script under the controllers directory the follows a similar structure

Models

Ballbot 2D with 2DoF Arms

Currently there is no working example of this model balancing and performing arm motion. You can run the test script to try and get it to balance in ballbot_ctrl_sim/test.

Run the test script

test_ballbot2D_w2DOFArm_dyns.m

Controllers

Currently I have made 2 controllers for this model that can be found in ballbot_ctr_sim/controllers/w2DOFArms_controllers. The controllers are as follows:

• LQR_balance_controller.m, this is an LQR based controller to balance the robot. This controller was take from the model with no arms, and hsould be updated to compensate for the arm dynamics.
• PD_Arm_controller.m, this implements a PD controller for the 2 arm joints. You can change the gains of the PD controller inside this file.

These two controllers are used in test_ballbot2D_w2DOFArm_dyns.m and should be updated.