Design and control of a multi-DOF two wheeled inverted pendulum robot

Two wheeled inverted pendulum (TWIP) robots are used widely for personal transporters and robotics mobile platforms. However, the robot body cannot remain vertical when TWIP robot climbs up and down a slope. It makes the passenger sitting on the robot uncomfortably and unsafely. Similarly, when TWIP robot turns sharply, there is a great risk of overturning. A multi-DOF TWIP robot is proposed in this paper, which has two more DOFs compared with traditional TWIP robot. Therefore, this robot has advantages in comfort and safety by reconfiguring the center of gravity in certain situations. The principles of the two DOFs are analyzed and simulated in this paper.