System Identification

In order to develop a proper controller for the vehicle, it is important to understand its response. Since I have the luxury of a functioning prototype, the system’s response can be determined experimentally. Using a string potentiometer, it was possible to determine the suspension arm’s expansion over time when given a step input, sampling every 1ms. The experimental setup can be seen here:

The system’s response can be seen here:

Since it is highly linear for most of the motion (and the slope corresponds to 94% of the servo’s maximum no load velocity) this response is very close to ideal.