Swinging-up of two pendulums by manual control

Simultaneous swinging-up of two pendulums by manual control is discussed in this paper. The same torque is applied for two pendulums with different physical parameters. We assume that the viscous damping factors of the pendulums are negligible. Since the control task is very difficult, we propose a manual control system with a computer assistance. The dynamic behavior of the two pendulums is simulated by a digital computer and its animation is shown on a CRT display. In addition, the computer generates appropriate signal assisting the human operator based on the energy diagrams of the pendulum. A human operator manipulates the pendulum motions while watching the display. We show that successful experimental results can be obtained by using the proposed manual control system.