Rotary Inverted Pendulum; GM Ignition Switch Crisis: Organizational Barriers to Duty 5 views

My technical project and STS research are connected through the concept of system stability and the role that feedback plays in maintaining it. My technical project centers on a device that achieves stability in an inherently unstable physical system through continuous feedback control. Without accurate, real-time information flowing back into the system, the system collapses. My STS research paper examines a structurally similar failure at the organizational level. While my technical project asks how feedback sustains a physical system, my STS research asks what happens when a complex organization lacks that feedback loop. My technical project involved the design and construction of a rotary inverted pendulum to be used as a teaching aid in undergraduate control systems courses at the University of Virginia. The device consists of a motorized rotary arm that actively balances a freely rotating pendulum in an upright position. The inverted position of the pendulum is an unstable system and therefore requires a real-time feedback control algorithm. We utilized proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control to continuously change the motor speed based on various factors about the pendulum’s angle. Beyond its technical function, the device was designed to give students hands-on experience with control systems concepts that are otherwise taught in purely theoretical terms. My STS research paper argues that the General Motors ignition switch crisis was an organizational failure that systematically prevented engineers from fulfilling their professional duties. Using Kantian duty ethics as the analytical framework, the paper examines how GM’s institutional structure obstructed duty-based action in three ways. The analysis draws on primary sources including the Valukas Report and congressional testimony to demonstrate that the engineers most responsible for identifying the defective part were denied the information, individual accountability, and organizational support to act on their categorical obligations. The paper ultimately contends that the ethical failure of the ignition switch crisis cannot be attributed to immoral engineers, but to an institution whose systems made moral action nearly impossible to sustain. Working on both projects simultaneously deepened my understanding of both topics. Designing the rotary inverted pendulum requires thinking carefully about how information flows through a system and what happens when that flow stops. That engineering experience gave me a foundation for understanding GM’s organizational failures in my STS research. The absence of cross-departmental knowledge sharing at GM was like trying to get our pendulum to stabilize without knowing where it is spatially. Just like in physical systems, feedback is needed to maintain balance in corporate settings.

BS (Bachelor of Science)

Mechatronics; Control Systems; PID

School of Engineering and Applied Science Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering Technical Advisor: Michael Momot STS Advisor: Benjamin Laugelli Technical Team Members: Tommy Cianfrani, Kevin Fleischer, Elijah Hernandez, Kenny Moffet, Lucas Turner

English

All rights reserved by the author (no additional license for public reuse)

2026-05-08