Stabilization of the Furuta Pendulum Using a Nonlinear Control Law Based on the Method of Controlled Lagrangians

This paper presents the design details for a nonlinear control law to stabilize a Furuta pendulum experimental apparatus. The controller is based on the method of controlled Lagrangians - a well-known energy based approach for stabilization of underactuated mechanical systems in Lagrangian form. An advanced model of the Furuta pendulum including friction effects is used for the controller synthesis. A systematic approach to determine the controller parameters for achieving an acceptable control performance is described. Simulation results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the design method.