What does steady state error mean?

An error that is still there after the system has settled and stopped changing. A proportional controller leaves one when the command at a small error is too weak to move the machine; an integral term removes it.

Also written as: steady state errors, steady-state error, steady-state errors

In a lesson

That is steady state error, and it is not a fault in the arithmetic. Proportional control needs an error to produce an output. When the output it produces is too small to move anything, the error stops shrinking. The largest error it can leave is 15 divided by Kp: 30 cm at 0.5, 7.5 cm at 2, 2.5 cm at 6. The robot coasts a little, so it usually finishes inside that.

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