Ball and Beam:
This system is composed
of a beam attached to a motor, and a ball placed on the beam.
The ball
is allowed to roll with one degree of freedom along the length of the
beam. The control goal is to place the ball at certain desired position,
by changing the beam angle.This kind of system type is often encountered
in control applications. This unstable system is a good example for
learning how control techniques can be applied to stabilize a plant.
Two
different control strategies have been implemented: manual control and PID
control.