Control of a double inverted pendulum with hydraulic actuation: a case study

A hydraulic actuated inverted pendulum with controller is designed, built, and tested. There are several objectives behind the device development. The first objective is to create an apparatus that can be used for class exercises for upper level control courses. Specifically, the device can be used to illustrate the complete control design process from plant modeling and identification to controller selection, design, and implementation, The next objective is to create a test bed for control theory investigations. The last objective is to choose an important means of actuation that does not receive significant coverage in the controls literature. We present details of the pendulum construction, its dynamic model, and controller design. The steps taken to model the plant and actuator together with the identification procedure present a useful example for control students regarding other aspects of control design which are not often covered in control texts.