Development of Modular 3d-Printed Pendulum Systems For Didactic Control Education

This paper presents the design and development of a modular pendulum system fabricated using 3D printing technology, integrated with sensors and electronics to create an open-source control module. The system is aimed at facilitating learning and comparison of control techniques on a single model that can be downloaded and printed anywhere. The pendulum modules include simple pendulums with two types of sensors—potentiometers and magnetic sensors—as well as a Furuta pendulum and a parallelogram pendulum, both equipped with an AS5600 magnetic sensor. The design emphasizes accessibility and adaptability, allowing educators and students to engage hands-on with control systems. Mathematical modeling, control strategies, and observer designs are presented for each pendulum, focusing on the simple pendulum with a Luenberger observer tuned using Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMI) with YALMIP in MATLAB. This work aims to enhance control education by providing practical, low-cost, and easily replicable teaching tools.