Balancing and vision

Gabor Stepan, Department of Applied Mechanics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics

Balancing the inverted pendulum is a simple case study for stabilizing otherwise unstable equilibriums. In this lecture, human balancing is compared to robotic balancing and the small-amplitude chaotic oscillations are compared in the two cases. The analysis of the Newtonian equations including the time delays and the thresholds at the sensors provides conclusions on the possible large-scale control strategy used by the human brain, and it also supports theories how our visual system or the human balancing organ - called labyrinth - might have developed.

http://www.mm.bme.hu/~stepan