An inverted pendulum is a popular mechatronic application that exists in different forms. The main objective of this application is to balance a link on one end of a control system using a feedback control. Two of the interesting case studies include rotational and the arm driven systems. These use a link rotating about an axis to balance a pendulum link, which rotates freely in the vertical plane. The arm driven vertical "stick-on-a-stick" configuration uses a driven link rotating in the vertical plane to balance the pendulum link which also rotates on the vertical plane. The horizontal and vertical configurations can be switched by simply replacing the links and setting the base on its side.

Broom balancing (Inverted Pendulum on a Cart) is a non-linear, unstable control problem where we consider a flexible broom on a moving cart. Control of an Inverted Pendulum is a Control Engineering problem based on flight simulation of rocket or missile during initial stages of flight. The aim is to stabilize the inverted pendulum such that the position of the carriage on the track is controlled quickly and accurately so that the pendulum is always erected in its inverted position during such movements.