The inverted pendulum is a classic problem in dynamics and control theory and is widely used as a benchmark for testing control algorithms. It is also an area of active study, with many new innovations and applications - for example the problem is solved in the technology of the Segway, a self-balancing transportation device.

This book provides an overall picture of historical and current trends and developments in nonlinear control theory, based on the simple structure and rich nonlinear model of the inverted pendulum. After an introduction to the system and open/current problems, the book covers the topic in four parts: applications of robust state estimation and control to pendulum-cart systems; controllers for under-actuated mechanical systems; nonlinear controllers for mobile inverted pendulum systems; and robust controllers based observers via Takagi-Sugeno or linear approaches.