Stabilization and control of the motion of a rolling disk by using two overhead rotors

This work deals with the stabilization and control of a system which is com posed of a disk rolling on a plane, a controlled slender rod that is pivote d through its center of mass about the disk's center and two overhead rotor s with their axes fixed in the upper part of the rod (see Figures 1 and 2). The rod is controlled in such a manner that it is always aligned along the line passing through the points O and C, where O denotes the center of the disk and C denotes the point of contact between the disk and the plane. Th e upper rotor rotates in a plane that passes through the disk's axis and th e rod, whereas the lower rotor rotates in a plane that is perpendicular to the rod (see Figures 1 and 2). By using a kind of inverse dynamics control a control strategy is proposed under which the disk's inclination is stabil ized about its vertical position and the disk's motion is able asymptotical ly to track any given smooth ground trajectory. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science L td. All rights reserved.