The objectives for the present paper are to identify the physical parameters of the real RIP, to design and to implement a fuzzy control for the balance/stabilizing problem. The swing-up control problem of the inverted pendulum which has the goal of bringing the pendulum from the downward position to the upright position is not considered in the paper and the control strategy includes only its stabilization at the upright position. This is done by giving a voltage of appropriate magnitude and direction to the dc motor which drives the mechanical system. Although there are a variety of hardware solutions (DAQ board, DSP, FPGA), we chose a low cost alternative based on a hardware network with three microcontrollers.