Ball and Plate Mechanism Actuated with Pneumatic Artificial Muscles

A novel ball-and-plate mechanism actuated with pneumatic artificial muscles is presented in this paper. The pneumatic muscles are arranged in two antagonistic configuration pairs to generate torque around two axes of plate rotation. The ball-and-plate system is classified as an under-actuated, high-order nonlinear system, with additional nonlinearities introduced by the air compressibility of the pneumatic muscles. A nonlinear mathematical model of the ball-and-plate system has been derived, in which the proposed system is modelled as two ball-and-beam systems, each representing one direction of the ball’s movement. Along with the nonlinear equations of motion, a simplified dynamical model of the pneumatic muscles and the proportional valve is included. The linearized model is developed and represented in a state-space form, which is used for LQR controller synthesis. The proposed controller is tested through numerical simulations and experimentally validated on the developed ball-and-plate mechanism setup.