PID Balancing Robot

Timeline: 1 Week

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​This project was a fairly simple balancing robot design, but was my first step into the world of controls. This version featured an Arduino as the main controller and a single DC motor driving it. At this iteration, it was only capable of keeping itself upright and couldn't drive in any direction or turn, at least not intentionally. The control system of this robot was a PID controller taking input from a gyroscope and outputting a PWM signal to the motor driver. I experimented with other control schemes such as proportional and bang bang control, but in the end, PID control gave me the response from the relatively weak 9V DC motor I was using. Future considerations would include using a stronger motor on each side, which would allow for more quicker rise time and turning.