Introduction to PID Control in Robotics

Introduction

PID control is the gold standard for maintaining a steady state in dynamic systems (like keeping a drone level or a robot following a line smoothly).

The Components

1. Proportional (P): Corrects based on current error.
2. Integral (I): Corrects based on past errors (accumulated).
3. Derivative (D): Predicts future error based on current rate of change.

Implementation Snippet

float Kp = 1.0, Ki = 0.1, Kd = 0.01;
float error, lastError, integral;

float calculatePID(float setpoint, float current) {
  error = setpoint - current;
  integral += error;
  float derivative = error - lastError;
  lastError = error;
  return (Kp * error) + (Ki * integral) + (Kd * derivative);
}