Motion control for a two-wheeled vehicle using a self-tuning PID controller

This paper presents the motion control and stability analysis of a two-wheeled vehicle (TWV). The TWV is driven using two independent wheel motors, upon which a vehicle body is mounted. A mathematical model of the TWV is obtained using dynamic analysis. The TWV is inherently unstable and its motion is controlled through the actions of the wheel motors. Vehicle action depends on both the desired wheel response and the tilt angle. A self-tuning proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control strategy, based on a deduced model, is proposed for implementing a motion control system that stabilizes the TWV and follows the desired motion commands. The controller parameters are tuned automatically, on-line, to overcome the disturbances and parameter variations. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the reliability and effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.