Abstract
In this research, a self-driving bicycle is constructed and the balancing control using the handlebar is studied. The controller is designed based on a model which characterizes the bicycle’s lateral dynamics under speed variations. As the model can be decomposed into a convex combination of four linear subsystems with time-varying coefficients, the proposed controller also consists of a convex combination of four linear, full-state feedback controllers. It is proved that if the full-state feedback controllers satisfy a set of linear matrix inequalities, the bicycle can maintain its lateral stability regardless of speed changes. Both simulations and experiments verify that the proposed controller can achieve robust balancing performance under various operating conditions.