1 Introduction
The Ball and Beam mechanism consists of a beam and a ball on it. The ball is rolling on the beam according to the changing angle of the beam. With our Ball and Beam like mechanism the ball is replaced by a cart which slides ‘frictionless’ on the beam. The task of the Ball and Beam like experiment is to bring the cart from any initial position with any initial speed to a desired position on the beam by applying an appropriate torque to the beam and thereby changing the angle of the beam. The Ball and Beam like mechanism is underactuated like the original Ball and Beam mechanism. The angle of a beam represents the first degree of freedom which is actuated by an electric direct drive motor and the cart sliding on the beam represents the second degree of freedom which is not actuated.