Where is the centre of gravity of a self-balancing robot?

This is part of a series of posts covering the development of a self-balancing robot: Modelling an inverted pendulum Building a self-balancing robot This post The mathematical model of an inverter pendulum previously developed for the self-balancing robot, needs three parameters to accurately represent reality. These are Weight of the […]

How to contruct a self-balancing robot

This is part of a series of posts covering the development of a self-balancing robot: Modelling an inverted pendulum This post Dertermining the centre of gravity for a self-balancing robot   Previously we investigated how to model an inverted pendulum. It is now time to go ahead and build the […]

Low cost STM32F3 board

If you are looking for a STM32F3 board for your next project it might just be worth your while to consider the SP Racing F3 board. In a previous post I discussed how you can program an old Naze32 flight controller board using Arduino. While writing it I also looked […]

First steps with ROS

As with many other complex problems, we can often solve and handle robotic problems more effectively if we break them up into smaller pieces. One way to achieve this is by using ROS (Robot Operating System), which promotes a more distributed design approach. The basic idea is that we break […]

Modelling an inverted pendulum – deriving a mathematical model

This is part of a series of posts covering the development of a self-balancing robot: This post Building a self-balancing robot Dertermining the centre of gravity for a self-balancing robot Aim Accurately model an inverted pendulum to use for control algorithms development for physical implementation. Personal goal: refresh basic understanding […]

Blob detection and tracking

In an upcoming project I want to experiment with image recognition and have a balance robot track and follow a colored ball. As a prelude to that project and to learn more about what is involved in terms of the image processing I came up with a smaller sub project. […]

Attitude estimation using IMU sensors

In this post I want to talk a bit about the use of accelerometer and gyroscope sensors to perform attitude (roll, pitch and yaw) estimations. Systems that perform these kind of tasks are often referred to as AHRS (Attitude and Heading Reference System) and is commonly used where it is […]