4-Pendulum Inverted Cart Stabilization – MATLAB Simulation

Take on one of the most challenging classic control problems: stabilizing four interconnected inverted pendulums using a single motorized cart.

This advanced MATLAB project demonstrates the modeling, simulation, and control of a highly unstable and underactuated multi-pendulum system. The cart is actuated while all four pendulum joints are free to swing, requiring the controller to coordinate the coupled dynamics and recover the pendulums to an upright position.

🔧 Project Features

• 4 interconnected inverted pendulums
• Single motorized cart actuator
• Highly unstable and underactuated system
• Dynamic mathematical modeling
• State-space representation
• Feedback control for upright stabilization
• Coupled multi-body pendulum dynamics
• Pendulum swing-up and stabilization behavior
• External disturbance/recovery testing
• Cart position and velocity control
• Pendulum angle and angular velocity analysis
• Real-time simulation visualization
• Control performance analysis
• MATLAB implementation
• No specialized hardware required

📊 What You Can Study

This project is useful for understanding:

• Inverted pendulum control
• Underactuated systems
• State-space control
• LQR control concepts
• Nonlinear dynamics
• Multi-body dynamic systems
• Feedback stabilization
• Control-system design
• Disturbance rejection
• Robotics and mechatronics control

📦 What You Receive

• Complete MATLAB source code
• Simulation files
• Dynamic model implementation
• Control algorithm
• Visualization/animation
• Simulation results
• Supporting documentation

🎓 Ideal For

• Mechatronics Engineering students
• Control Engineering students
• Robotics students
• Mechanical Engineering students
• MATLAB/Simulink learners
• Final-year projects
• Control-system research
• Academic demonstrations
• Robotics and automation projects

🚀 Why This Project?

Four pendulums controlled by a single cart provide an excellent demonstration of advanced feedback control, instability, coupling, and underactuation.

Use the project to study how a controller can stabilize multiple unstable bodies through a single control input and explore how changes in system parameters affect stability and performance.

Get the complete project and explore advanced inverted-pendulum control in MATLAB.