Beam Ball Balancer ⚖️

This was an academic project, which was completed with 3 other group members, focused on designing a beam that could have its tilt controlled by a servo motor. Then, with an overhead camera providing location inputs of a ball on that beam, a Proportional, Integral, and Derivative (PID) control system was programmed to balance the ball. My main role in this project was designing the beam balancer in CAD.


This project was also the precursor to the Stewart platform project!

Skills Utilized 🔨

Mechanical Design

Laser Cutting

SolidWorks

Requirements

  • Must be able to balance the ball to a near-standstill within 30 seconds.

  • All parts must be either 3D printed or laser cut with acrylic.

  • Must be not exceed a height of 200 mm during functioning

Engineering Challenges

  • Selecting link sizes such that the balancer does not move too much or too little for a given input from servo

  • Tuning PID parameters methodically, and debug issues, whether mechanical or software related

Initial Ideas, Sketches

Sketches from the first group brainstorming session!

Final CAD

Prototype