We illustrate the potential of neuromorphic control on the simple mechanical model of a pendulum, with both event-based actuation and sensing. The controller and the pendulum are regarded as event-based systems that occasionally interact to coordinate their respective rhythms. Control occurs through a proper timing of the interacting events. We illustrate the mixed nature of the control design: the design of a rhythmic automaton, able to generate the right sequence of events, and the design of a feedback regulator, able to tune the timing of events.
Comment: 6 pages, 10 figures, submitted jointly to IEEE Control Systems Letters and the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (this is the 'Letters' version)