Empirical verification of a controllable angle of a single-wheel mobile robot

The ultimate goal of a single-wheel mobile robot is to maintain balance and to navigate on its terrain autonomously. To become an autonomous vehicle, it is required to stand up and drive by itself. In this paper, a controllable balancing angle of the single-wheel mobile robot, GYROBO developed previously, is found by empirical studies. A dynamic equation of the gyroscopic effect between a gimbal and a body is verified by experimental studies. The physical relationship between the gimbal and the body system is studied. PWM(Pulse Width Modulation) characteristic of the control system, a maximum slew rate of gimbal and body, and the falling phenomenon of the robot are numerically analyzed by extensive experimental studies.