Balancing on a Rolling Contact

This letter presents a controller for robots that balance in a vertical plane on a rolling contact on a flat horizontal surface. It is an extension of Featherstone's balance controller to the case of robots that balance on rounded feet or wheels. Simulation results demonstrate the ability of the new controller to balance an inverted double pendulum on a rolling contact and to balance a Segway-like wheeled robot and make it follow a motion command signal. Experimental validation is provided on an underactuated inverted double pendulum robot.