The Wheelbot: A Jumping Reaction Wheel Unicycle

07/14/2022

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by   A. Rene Geist, et al.

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Combining off-the-shelf components with 3Dprinting, the Wheelbot is a symmetric reaction wheel unicycle that can jump onto its wheels from any initial position. With non-holonomic and under-actuated dynamics, as well as two coupled unstable degrees of freedom, the Wheelbot provides a challenging platform for nonlinear and data-driven control research. This paper presents the Wheelbot's mechanical and electrical design, its estimation and control algorithms, as well as experiments demonstrating both self-erection and disturbance rejection while balancing.