Mechatronic design of a self-balancing three-dimensional inertia wheel pendulum

• We developed a self balancing three dimensional inverted pendulum based on reaction wheels.
• We conducted a design assessment to review different design approaches.
• Most suitable dimensions of the cube are calculated by a parameter optimization.
• We used a linear control approach that is robust against disturbances.
• Feed-forward control is calculated by model parameters.

In this paper a three-dimensional self-balancing cube is introduced. For stabilization and swing-up, reaction wheels are placed within the cube along with the actuation, electronics and sensors. This allows the cube to swing up from a rest position and to balance around the unstable steady-state positions. We conducted a design assessment to review different design approaches. For the most promising design, we formulated a parameter optimization to calculate the most suitable dimensions for the cube and the inertia elements. These results were used in the mechanical design stage to obtain the optimal design parameters for the cube in an iterative process. To show the effectiveness of the test bench we considered a proportional control law for swing-up and stabilization at the various steady state positions.