If anyone out there is particularly familiar with tuning PID controllers I have a question.
I have a small robot with an ESC and rotary encoder on the wheels, this gives me control over how fast the robots motor is going and information the robots wheel rotation.
I want the robot to move along a path that has flat sections and inclines and I want it to maintain how far along the path it should be; IE the robot will have a function in it telling it how far along the path the robot should be (a timer multiplied by a coefficient) and a function telling where it is by dead reckoning the rotary encoders
At this point I want to implement a controller that will speed up or slow down the motor depending with respect to how far the robot is from the correct point on the path.
Would a PID controller be sufficient for this and if so what advice would you give for tuning it?
A concern of mine regarding this is the following...
Most other PID guides out there are usually done for things that have an element of breaking ability (ie a servo that can move in two directions, one to move towards a set-point and another to provide damping if it is moving too fast towards the set-point); however my robot only has the ESC to control the speed moving towards the set-point and no breaking other than slowing the motor and allowing the motor gearing and the robot weight to slow the robot.
Also how to deal with maintaining a set-point that is constantly moving sounds like a possible challenge to me.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.