A Hierarchical Approach to Designing Approximate Reasoning-Based Controllers for Dynamic Physical Systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces a hierarchical, rule-based control method for dynamic physical systems with interacting goals, demonstrated on a cart-pole balancing task, especially useful when precise models are unavailable.

Contribution

It proposes a novel hierarchical approximate reasoning approach for controller design, integrating rule-based knowledge with real-time physical system control.

Findings

Successfully balanced a cart-pole system in real-time

Demonstrated effectiveness without requiring precise mathematical models

Provides a flexible alternative to analytical control methods

Abstract

This paper presents a new technique for the design of approximate reasoning based controllers for dynamic physical systems with interacting goals. In this approach, goals are achieved based on a hierarchy defined by a control knowledge base and remain highly interactive during the execution of the control task. The approach has been implemented in a rule-based computer program which is used in conjunction with a prototype hardware system to solve the cart-pole balancing problem in real-time. It provides a complementary approach to the conventional analytical control methodology, and is of substantial use where a precise mathematical model of the process being controlled is not available.