Furuta pendulum is an academic benchmark example for evaluating non-linear control algorithms. The main aim of this dissertation is to study this physical system, showing its dynamic model and several strategies for its control. An assortment of swing-up and upright control approaches is reported with its design and simulations. Besides, this document describes the project development which is being done at the FabLab of the Obuda University, whose objective is to design and manufacture a demonstration device that is capable to test and display various control strategies. Requirements and specications of the design, used tools and future work are described. The dissertation is structured in eight different chapters: (1) History of the Furuta pendulum, describing the origin of this system; (2) State-of-the-art in non-linear control, giving a background for the different control strategies; (3) Dynamic model of the Furuta pendulum; (4) Swing-up by energy control, based on the work of Astrom and Furuta; (5) Stabilizing local control, via full state feedback; (6) Hybrid control, which sums up the previous approaches; (7) Development project, which describes the work realized in the FabLab and (8) Conclusion, discussing the knowledge extracted from the development of this thesis
