Fruit conveyor prototype based on ball and beam system

This study investigates a high friction fruit conveyor system based on a traditional frictionless ball-and-beam system (BBS). Both share commonalities of behavior i.e. controlling an object by manipulating the platform angle. The BBS system includes a rubberised strip to make increase its friction slightly. The inherently unstable BBS is stabilised with a simple PID controller to permit system identification techniques. Various model structures have been identified but the state space model was ultimately selected for the design of an optimal controller. A camera vision system was used for sensing to keeping in line with the requirements of the fruit conveyor system. The results of simulation illustrate that the designed controller, based on the identified system model from experimental data, is satisfactory and can be used to develop a model that incorporates friction as will be the case in the fruit conveyor system.