Development of omnidirectional self-balancing robot

Abstract

The omnidirectional self-balancing robot or otherwise known as ballbot belongs to a special class of balancing robots. With only one contact point with the ground, ballbot is able to achieve a higher degree of agility with a lower footprint than most mobile robots. While practical applications of balancing platforms such as Segway PT have gained much traction over the last decade, directional limitations in movements are still prevalent in wheeled robots. To achieve omnidirectional motion, a ball is used as a replacement to wheels. Similar to the concept of inverted pendulum, self-balancing is achieved using a closed-loop control system. In this paper, we propose the implementation of a minimalist and low cost ball-balancing robot that utilizes off-the-shelf components that are widely available in the market with the aim to create an affordable platform to study and design control strategies for ballbots.