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Robot Balances on a Single Spherical Wheel
dalangalma writes "Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute have developed a new kind of robot called the Ballbot that balances on a steel ball. Using a mechanism similar to a ball mouse, the Ballbot uses rollers to drive its single, spherical wheel and balance in place or glide around the room. The promise of such dynamically stable robots is that they can be much taller without having to have a wide base, making them much more suitable for working with humans. They are also much more agile, since they can be pushed out of the way easily without falling over. You can read the press release or check out the project's web page when it recovers from traffic."
It's been a loooong time since I watched the show, but didn't the Jetson's have a robot like this?
Similar, but different.
The overall concept is the same (in the sense that you have a system to balance and probably similar mathematics to do it), but the single point of contact with the ground makes for a different solution matrix. Segways need only balance in one dimension; this robot has to account for two, and it must solve for its balance with one manipulator. To add to the complexity, it must also navigate and motivate itself; a Segway's navigation system takes advantage of the sensors and processor installed in all of its cargo (a handy feature!) to offset the 'heavy lifting' of directional goals.
I believe this project may also pre-date the segway by a few years, if you look at the papers published on it.
Take care,
Mark
There is a solution...
FTA:
"When Ballbot is not in operation, it stands in place on three retractable legs."
So 'nervous balance' motions won't be necessary, one could assume.
As for the thinness issue: it is precisely the personal space issue that makes a thin robot useful in a crowded public space. Our perception of personal space factors in the personal space of the other person. So a robot that is as wide as one's 'personal space bubble' causes people interacting with it to give it even more room. The thin chassis on this robot alleviates that problem by only taking up an amount of space roughly equivalent to the human torso, so that a person's "personal space guess" comes out accurately.
Take care,
Mark
There is a solution...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulefa
"Technological Thret" is an 1988 animated short directed by Bill Kroyer. It centers around the introduction of an office robot that rolls around on a single ball in the bottom of its structure. One of the interesting little details about the short was that the robots were first animated in a computer, then rotoscoped in 2D to fit with the rest of the 2D short. The bot in the short didn't look *that much* like the Ballbot, but just enough to bring it to mind.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
The Mulefa (from what I remember of reading the trilogy and having me memory refreshed by the Wikipedia article) don't use a single ball or wheel; they use several wheels and stick their limbs through them. I don't think the Piers Anthony ones used a single ball either (didn't they use pillars as rollers?).
Enquiring minds want to know!
There are some videos available on youtube, in case you want to spare them some bandwidth.
"You're everywhere. You're omnivorous."
"It was a tear drop shaped thing with a massive spherical wheel on the bottom and a limber tentacle or trunk at the top"
They communicated by vibrating a smaller spherical ball on the end of the trunk against another object (ie the ground). AFAICR
As for the sex, they chase each other round in an ever decreasing circle, incensed by each others trails, until they touch. Then the male polarian releases his large wheel and joins onto the females large wheel so that they both join at the seam. Then they spin the wheel until it springs into life and forms a child. After that, the female pinches the males communication wheel to use as a transit wheel, leaving him temporarily mute, and he gets to use his old transit wheel again.
I can't believe I just described that !I do have the trilogy on the shelf though. It is the Cluster Trilogy by Piers Anthony, consisting of Vicinity Cluster, Chaining the Lady, and Kirlian Quest. Weird books, based around the transference of a beings aura across galactic distances and that aura inhabiting living "hosts" once transferred. Lots of tarot references too.