A touch-screen placed on the plate is used for ball's position sensing and two servomotors are employed for balancing the plate in order to control ball's Cartesian coordinates. Due to its complexity, multiple steps were taken to solve the design challenges and develop the system. The major works were mathematical modelling, kinematic constraints and dimensional analysis, simulations, and construction of the system. The control system required an effective control strategy and a thorough analysis of system parameters. The system’s feasibility and optimal operation were fully considered in the design phase. The design was then validated by simulations using Simulink/MATLABTM and experimental testing. A complete dynamic system investigation for the ball-on-plate system is presented in this paper. This includes hardware design, sensor and actuator selection, system modelling, parameter identification, controller design and experimental testing.
The physical system consists of an acrylic plate, an actuation mechanism for tilting the plate about two axes, a ball position sensor, instrumentation for signal processing, and real-time control software/hardware. The entire system is mounted on a wooden base plate and is supported by U-joint.
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