PID Controller Optimization for Low-cost Line Follower Robots
This work addresses stability issues for hobbyists or educators building low-cost differential wheeled robots, but it is incremental as it builds on existing PID control methods.
The paper tackled the problem of improving stability and robustness in low-cost line follower robots by modifying a classical PID controller and developing open-loop control mechanisms, resulting in a heuristic optimization approach and a test platform built with off-the-shelf components.
In this paper, modification of the classical PID controller and development of open-loop control mechanisms to improve stability and robustness of a differential wheeled robot are discussed. To deploy the algorithm, a test platform has been constructed using low-cost and off-the-shelf components including a microcontroller, reflectance sensor, and motor driver. This paper describes the heuristic approach used in the identification of the system specifications as well as the optimization of the controller. The PID controller is analyzed in detail and the effect of each term is explained in the context of stability. Lastly, the challenges encountered during the development of controller and robot are discussed. Code is available at: https://github.com/sametoguten/STM32-Line-Follower-with-PID.