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Thread: Ballbot, Dynamically-Stable Mobile Robots in Human Environments, Microdynamic Systems Laboratory

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    Ballbot, Dynamically-Stable Mobile Robots in Human Environments, Microdynamic Systems Laboratory

    Last edited by Airicist2; 24th December 2022 at 02:22.

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    The ballbot - December, 2008

    Uploaded on Sep 23, 2011

    The ballbot is a dynamically stable mobile robot that balances on a single ball. It was built by Prof. Ralph Hollis at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA. To the best of our knowledge, it the first of its kind ever built. Recently, many other groups have started building such robots.

    I work on the control and planning for the ballbot and this video demonstrates its robustness and balancing capabilities.

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    Ballbot Exhibit in RoboWorld - Carnegie Science Center

    Uploaded on Jan 13, 2012

    This video on the ballbot is exhibited in RoboWorld, a permanent robotics exhibition at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, 2009

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    Ballbot : A single-wheeled balancing robot

    Published on Sep 9, 2015

    Features Ralph Hollis, George Kantor, Umashankar Nagarajan and Michael Shomin explaining how Ballbot might be able to help people and why it stands out as a better alternative to robots with heavy, bulky multi-wheeled bases.

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    "Simple robot roams around using just a ball motor"
    It's the only moving part in SIMbot besides the robot itself.

    by Jon Fingas
    October 4, 2016

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    Ballbot: Balancing Mobile Robot on a single-wheel

    Nov 15, 2020

    The video narrates that the Ballbot is designed to be a Mobile Robot that balances itself on one spherical wheel. Invented by Ralph Hollis in 2004, this collective project by the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University is a 75 kilogram machine created to be tall, slender and person-sized with mechanical arms. Despite its weight, it can still be easily pushed around and moved with little effort like a push of a finger.

    The Ballbot moves in an agile omnidirectional motion by applying torque between the body and the ball. George Kantor elaborates that its wheel is driven by an orthogonal set of rollers working like an inverted mouse ball drive. It works by continuously accelerating the ball in the opposite direction of the lean angle, and reverses direction once the desired lean angle is achieved. Umashankar Nagarajan describes this movement as a set of dynamic constraints which control the dynamics of the ball and the body through motion mapping. Arm manipulation is balanced in a way that when the arm moves, the Ballbot leans in the opposite side so that their effects cancel each other out.

    The Ballbot has numerous potential applications in society such as interacting with people and operating in normal home and workplace environments. Michael Shomin explains that it can function in hospitals and elder care facilities by assisting people in a sit-to-stand maneuver. It can help in cooperative carrying by fetching and transporting heavy everyday objects. The balancing robot has various uses in Navigation, such as helping elderly people who rely on holding someone’s elbow for support and stability, and leading visually impaired people in an unfamiliar environment. It can even create maps of a building, and program specific location names to navigate and assist people who need to go to a certain room.

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    Ballbot balancing cups of water

    Aug 31, 2021

    The CMU ballbot is controlling its entire body to maintain balance on top of its ball while also balancing a red cup with water on the right hand while tracking a circular motion and an empty water bottle on the left hand.

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    Lifting heavy payload

    Feb 1, 2022

    The CMU ballbot is controlling its entire body to maintain balance on top of its ball while carrying a heavy payload. The ballbot is actively compensating for the additional payload weight.

    Graduate Student: Roberto Shu

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