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DIY Segway-Style Balancing Robot
clarionhaze writes "Many have tried, and failed, at getting a robot to sustain it's own balance. However; Steve Hassenplug accomplished it with with a small robot he made out of legos and a program in C that runs on BrickOS, an OS made for Legos! You can check out his site or read the article over at TechTV." Update: 01/18 15:52 GMT by T : Unanimous Cow writes "David Anderson of the
Dallas Personal Robotics Group has an
excellent web page with images and movies of his two-wheel balancing robot. This one uses a single-axis inertial measurement sensor and is very robust on uneven surfaces and off-road."
I played with LEGO as a kid and now as an adult. I really wish someone would have nurtured that facination and help me learn a few things. You know, back in the old days, before you could look everything up on the internet. You actually had to have something documenting some basic technologies then.
now a days, a kid could search google for a few things, and then find the answers or a great little document written by some MIT type. Where's that little thing that turns you into a kid when you need it.
As a rock-in-roll Physicist once said, No matter where you go, there you are.
Yes, its known as the "inverse pendulum problem" and is routinely modelled and solved in control system classes.
One of those head-smackers ... "why didn't I think of that?".
Someone may well have thought of it before... someone may even have tried to whip one up in his basement, but Kamen took the idea and turned it into a commercial product.
That takes a special kind of human being. A friend of mine is a little like that: he keeps a small recorder on him (and under his bed) and dictates ideas he gets to himself. He may wake up one night thinking "What if I printed ads for companies on those flexible magnetic sheets, slap them on cabs and pay the cabbie a sum for the privilege?" (In Holland cabs generally have no ads on them). Next morning he starts making phone calls, to buddies in advertising firms, to cab companies, to printers, ect. etc. He spends an enormous amount of energy, and 49 out of 50 times it comes to nothing. It's that successful nr. 50 that counts though.
You have to admire people like that, having the drive to follow through on an idea and getting a company off the ground. Me, I am much to lazy for that... I'd wake up with an idea, think "Hmm neat" and go back to sleep.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
It really is simple to build a robot that will retain it's balance, even without any electronics. You simply need big wheels and a heavy weight under the axle, so that the point of gravity is underneath the point of rotation (the axle). My guess is he did that, if only to assist in keeping the balance. The wheels seem pretty big, and it looks like to motors are right in between them. The last thing you want to do is make the robot top-heavy.