Inverted Pendulum Contest

Inverted Pendulum Contest

  • Form Submission
  • Deadline: September 6 2026, 11:59 PM (PT)

IEEE Region 6 is hosting a contest for students to build an inverted pendulum. Students are allowed (and encouraged) to use any design they find online, but deploy their own algorithms to stabilize their prototype and compete for prizes.

The goal of the competition is not to have students build a unique pendulum from scratch, but to learn/apply their knowledge of control theory to a physical prototype. 

For inspiration on how to build a mobile inverted pendulum, there are resources online, such as:

For help and support while building the project, join the IEEE Region 6 Students discord server!

Interest Form
2 phases

How to Enter

The competition has 2 phases:

  1. Phase 1: Submit the interest form by August 8, 2026.
  2. Phase 2: Completed project deadline by September 6, 2026.
    • *Optional weekly updates submissions by August 15, 22, and 29.

Please submit the following in the final submission (separate form will be sent to teams that have expressed interest):

  1. An uninterrupted, < 3 minute video introducing the individual/team behind the project and showing how the project performs under the relevant judging metric.
  2. A public GitHub repository containing the control logic and a README.md that explains how to run the code.
  3. A 3-5 page PDF stating the judging metric values, detailing the control theory used and how the prototype was built.
Three Tracks

The Challenges

Track A: The "Classical" Track

Focus: PID, LQR, or other classical control algorithms. No part of the real-time control decision can be made by a trained model or a regression-based neural network.

Goal: Stability.

Judging Metric: 

  • Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of the pole angle during a 30-second steady-state hold.
  • Max Perturbation Angle (θmax​) from which the system can successfully recover to a steady-state hold (< 2 degrees error) within 5 seconds after using an unopened  12oz soda can to hit the pole.

Track B: The "Machine Learning" Track

Focus: Reinforcement Learning (RL).

Goal: Sim-to-Real transfer.

Judging Metric: 

  • Training Efficiency. Teams must show how they trained the agent in a simulator and what “domain randomization” (e.g. adding fake noise/friction) they used to make it work on the real hardware.
  • Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of the pole angle during a 30-second steady-state hold.
  • Max Perturbation Angle (θmax​) from which the system can successfully recover to a steady-state hold (< 2 degrees error) within 5 seconds after using an unopened  12oz soda can to hit the pole.

Track C: The "Advanced" Track

Focus: Elegant transition from “hanging” to “inverted” position.

Goal: The Swing-Up.

Judging Metric: 

  • Percentage overshoot angle.
  • Rising time from 10% to 90% of steady state angle.
Rewards

Prizes

Each member on the winning teams will receive:

Challenge Coin

Region 6 RSAC challenge coins for winners in each category

Swag

Region 6 RSAC swag for winners in each category

Recognition

Recognition of winning projects in each category by the Region 6 and Region 6 RSAC LinkedIn pages

Certificate

Certificate of participation for all submissions

Additionally, each team that submits the interest form and weekly updates submissions report will be entered into a raffle for additional rewards according to the timeline below. Raffle draws are independent.

Important dates

Timeline

Aug 8, 2026 Intent of participation form due
Aug 15, 2026 Weekly updates submission 1 (optional, but submission allows raffle entry)
Aug 22, 2026 Weekly updates submission 2 (optional)
Aug 29, 2026 Weekly updates submission 3 (optional, but submission allows raffle entry)
Sep 6, 2026 Final submission form
Sep 13, 2026 Judging completed and winners announced
Keep this in mind

Rules

  1. The contest runs from July 24, 2026 to September 6, 2026 PT
  2. Individuals or teams of up to 4 students can enter the contest
  3. One winner per track
  4. At least one team member must be an IEEE member for the team to enter the competition , but all winners must be IEEE members to receive prizes 
  5. Projects must be new, or significantly improved from a previous version. Design is open ended.
  6. Bill of materials should total to < $100
  7. Quality of submissions will be considered by judges according to the judging rubric
  8. All judge decisions are final
  9. Contest open to Region 6 students only
Common questions

FAQ

  1. Is it a single pendulum?
    1. No. The design decision is up to the individual/team
  2.  How will the stability, overshoot, and rise time be judged?
    1. Teams are allowed to report these however they want. It is open ended, but students can use the Arduino IDE serial plotter, a custom plotter using pySerial, etc.

Contact

If you have any general questions contact us in our discord!

Or through email: 

Join our discord!