[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbT_XoSIlEo]
This art-meets-robot has the grueling task of standing on one foot all day long while other robots get to bend to their heart’s content. It balances on that single point by adjusting its center of gravity with six pendulum-like appendages. To make the system more like the Borg, each of those six modules shares sensor data with the rest and work together to keep the unit upright. Give in to loving the design because resistance is futile.
[Via BotJunkie]
spiffy
Interesting, but wouldn’t a gyroscope (or several) be a more elegant (and possibly more robust) solution to this engineering problem?
What ? No spinning standing on one corner.
Still a cool hack though !
Now attach a pencil to the tip and make it graph its movements. That’d be interesting.
Also, how long until it finds the perfect balance? :D
(I’m kidding, of course.)
I would love to have that displayed in my house (when I buy one.) VERY cool
If only the future held self-balancing buildings like this ;-)
Solid looking good stuff. Yey!
@ justin
my first thought was buildings, too.
Wow, great control loop design. When he pushes it, it returns to center with no overshoot. That’s difficult to achieve without serious work.
@ Sam
Not that difficult, PID controllers don’t need that much tuning to get the overshoot small enough for you not to be able to see it from ~2m away…
But yes, this is pretty cool.
I want to see it remember what edge/corner it was balancing on and try to right itself after somebody knocks it over.
Best. Title. Ever.
lol the title is epic agreed
they have to make little toys like this, like a rubik’s cube that can stand on one point, it would freak people out i want one!
nice but i think a gyroscope will be more eficient
What, no trolls? Careful, could be a trap!
Seriously though, this is truly impressive. This thing looks more stable than most humans I know standing on one foot!
meraviglioso! :)
very impressive!
This would be a very interesting and ideal application to program with a neural network too
My ghod, it’s full of…of like…balance or something.
It does actually overshoot a little, as you’d expect, but it is impressive control.
It would be cool if you pushed it from point to edge and it kept right on balancing…
but can you spin it?!
if the corners were roller bearings instead, i wonder if you could push it harder. it looks like it would handle a horizontal push fine but not so much an applied moment.
But I just invented a sphere that balances on any side.
this is weird.