Advanced control techniques for the ball and plate system: implementation and comparison

The Ball and Plate system has the characteristic of being unstable. Consequently, the plant needs advanced control techniques. In this proposal, three algorithms are implemented and compared: SMC (Sliding Mode Control), Fuzzy and FSMC (Fuzzy Sliding Mode Control). In order to achieve this goal, a prototype was made which has a 5-wire resistive touch panel (which is the plate of the mechanism and permanently senses the position of the free ball) and two servo motors (as final control elements) that handle the tilt of the plate. The Arduino Mega is used to acquire and manage the plant's signals. Furthermore, exists a continuous interaction between the interface (on the computer through the MatLab/Simulink environment), the controller and the hands-on system.