Synchronisation control of parallel dual inverted pendulums driven by linear servomotors

Synchronisation control of multi-axis servosystems has recently attracted the attention of researchers, but the issue of synchronisation for multiple inverted pendulums (IPs) is rarely discussed. With this in mind, the authors present a control design of a parallel dual IP system (PDIPS) in which two IPs driven by a pair of linear servomotors allow for parallel movement. The control problem of coupling IPs involves both balancing and synchronous tracking control. A robust design is investigated to enhance internal dynamic stiffness and achieve balance control of the PDIPS. Furthermore, a synchronisation control scheme with a coordinated compensator is proposed to perform a viably congruent dual-axis motion. Experimental results are given to verify the feasibility of the illustrated method. When compared with the classical master-slave control, the proposed control scheme has the advantage in that it can significantly reduce the synchronisation error in command tracking and can generate coordinated motion on both axes.