Low Cost Portable Inverted Pendulum Built on a Toy Car

A standalone inverted pendulum system for education was built on a toy car. A stick of approximately 50 cm was placed on a toy car with a potentiometer at its bottom to measure the tilt angle. A simple optical encoder of three pulses-per-revolution is attached to the wheel to measure the position of the car. A microcomputer runs on BASIC-like language which is easy enough to use with minimal knowledge of computer programming. It has a function to monitor values of variables in real time, which is very useful for showing the outputs of the sensors as well as for debugging. It is portable and compact enough to use it on a desktop in a classroom or on a small space of floor. Its low cost makes it easy to provide many sets within a low budget. This inverted pendulum car has been used in introductory courses on electro-mechanical systems for several years.