Ballbot : A Single-Wheeled Balancing Robot 

When I was in middle school I saw this robot documented in discover magazine. I was absolutely fascinated. I had been interested in mechanical design, and the concept of spherical motion transfer and and control totally blew my mind. It was that article that led me to work in robotics. Thanks to those that worked on it.

I'm amazed to only now get this in my recommendations yet this concept is already quite old and I haven't seen an update on it in 5 years. So with the new availability of electronics and microcontrollers, I'm guessing this should be even easier to engineer in our current day and age. The question then arises, why haven't we seen this design being adapted and improved upon?

Very cool, I remember building this thing in Uni. I wonder why there hasn't been any notable further development incorporating this Ballbot's concept?? One problem I bet is maybe it's power hungry, actuating the motors constantly in an effort to stabilize the structure due to its inherent unstable idle position. Thus leading to not being economically feasible or user friendly, cuz you gotta charge the thing all the time or need a huge battery :(

that sway in the jaw-axis when moving probably is just a oscillation in the control loop but it adds character. It gives the appearance of a walking (or skating) motion that to some extent anthropomorphizes the machine.

I love this idea!

Very interesting level of ability. I think the future will be very exciting.

Alten Mechatronics has a similar research robot here in the Netherlands. really elegant approach to locomotion. like!

Nice design

OK so this obviously could make for very agile ball joints in robotics, a hip joint with good stable sway could make bipedal walking a lot easier. A binding mechanism could be a simple cup with 3 of the same wheels but free-rolling, with an axle extending from and tentioned to the driving assembly. With it bound from each side and basically a universal joint at that point a computer can calculate the needed input to the ball wheels to drive an appendage in the right direction.

Considering the shape (height) of this robot, it seems like it would be advantageous for it to have a solenoid-shiftable mass near its top, to give it the ability to lean just a little. In its current configuration, it seems like it could quickly destabilize and fall if it were to run inti anything (or is pushed into anything). Having a secondary means to rebalance itself in a worst-case scenario seems important, and would also open up quicker accel/decel, higher movement velocity, and potentially better ability to handle uneven terrain. All the balancing stuff is really cool and great tech, but it’s 2020 now and lots of people have been building single-ball balancing robots and they do well up to a point, until they topple over. A secondary balance mechanism could be the missing component that pushes this from cool concept to viable product.

Its great and it looks as though it is floating.

inspiring stuff i love ballbots

I wonder if the omni-wheel would work as good or less on this robot. Also couldn't control moment gyroscopes be used to balance the robot?

I think 3 ball at bottom will be much better and more stable so balancing would be much easier and then you also can't move it by small force. And also you can move in any direction without any problem.and you can also rotate the robot on any axis without moving

Wonder how it deals with puddles, items on floor like a dropped spoon,pencil, Or a lego block?

2:15 You mean directly ABOVE.

Interesting & Innovative home & workplace technology: the Ballbot - A Single-Wheeled Balancing Robot 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.

Would be great with a screen to display another persons face for live face time etc. Also track lines to help it with the stairs

Thats cool. I want a Ballbot.

You make Dr. Michael Mauldin (We call him "Fuzzy") proud!

I will build one of these that you can ride on think of it as an omnidirectional autonomous Segway

I think I'd much rather such robot over a human looking one they showed at the start but then I'm curious about how safe it is what if there is a power malfunction, what if someone bump into it too hard/fast, will it just fall in an uncontrolled manner? It's probably not light at that too

Does it also use gyroscopes or other trickery? Or is it just rotating the ball and moving its arms?

WOOW...

I always wondered what a bolbod looks like

What if we put one more ball next to current one?

Why does the face remind me of Jonny 5?

Danger Will Robinson Danger!

Sigh...I was inventing that earlier today and then found the video. Anyway, nicely done. I'd honestly feel safer having a robot with a low center of mass and a wider base so it can't fall over.

I love this! Funny how it's just now behind recommended to me... 4yrs later😒😒😒

I​ love​ ballbot.

Amazing control system and engineering but too complex for its applications, what if it falls?

It's real future !

Make more vedios ❤️🔥

This music is straight out of the 80s.

So now we have skynet and i-robot vehicles. Wht next?

That thing looks like a very top heavy reverse pendulum. I get circus artisic vibs from this human sized pencil 🎪😅

6:18 - it's called a trolley and doesn't cost much

The face of the robot reminds me of Johny 5.

Just realized it's weights (75KG)

Here is an idea it could be completely useless though. Why not use a gyroscope to control the lean of the robot that should allow a lot more fluidity in the motion and a lot more control also it could also allow the robot to move faster.

Lets assume floors are perfectly flat and free of obstructions...

What happend when it falls down?

interesting design by itself, when trying to argument about applications, that just doesn't click.

Oh no we are in the Jetsons

Gizmoduck!!!

*_Я не пойму, зачем так, всё усложнять?_* 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

kick it

Imagine seeing this on a lonely night with thunder and lightning...

Nice to have. But in daily life application I don’t really care if it’s a single ball or four-wheeler.

it can move to 100 kph from 0 in 2 seconds ................

bro how about you make that moving part the ball attach with a leg like moving (leg) so that it could even climb.

it's got balls!

BB8's ancestor ... AA1

Walle all grown up

BB8

this dude invented the Dwemer sphere

mo

BB8 from Star Wars.

GrabCad: Omnidirectional spherical induction motor 360 (selfdrive transport) : Planetary gear Omni speed reduction 360 system .(OPEN SOURCE Engine) drive.google.com/file/d/170Egu-rHYRfjxiaRHs3RZcwwNIysBCMa/view…………… GrabCad: Omnidirectional electric Motor (Full Concept : OPEN SOURCE Engine) drive.google.com/file/d/1qS07wafxxulyqFlR6MWwH4DfG4WjpyGf/view…

why don't we use this technology on cars ?

Its weakness is... stairs. :D

So cool? I watch it like Star Wars

me as a technician: "how does it work internally?" me as an engineer: "what happens if: -something is on the ground and block the ball? -someone push the robot in the direction of lowering stairs? -the battery fail? -we combine many of thoose robots to make a wall? -the ball doesn't touch the ground anymore? -the motor control does not respond? -the robot goes crazy (internal software crash / electronical short-cut / power-surge due to battery fail / ...) ? -someone leans too much weight on the robot? -someone is too heavy for the robot to lift? -the robot vision is disturbed due to reflective environement or capacitive environement? ..."

Why didn't sci-fi or video games think of this 🤔

This head looks familiar...

What? You havent hit it with a chair!?

One word stairs

How many old wobbly dudes took one of these down on top of them before you got sued?

...just keep your floors clean.

wife robot

I don't know, this looks like a stone age robot compared to Boston Dynamics robots.

Dalek in Alpha stage: "Exterminate! Exterminate!"

i love ball bots, but the name is a bit too humorous for soliciting the emotions that are required for appealing to serious minded investor types. what i mean is that the colloquial 'ball' if often used to mean 'testicle' of the male of any species, especially human males. So this name alludes to the collquial for 'testicle bot' . In this case, the robot is then thought to have 'one' ball, as opposed to ' two balls' or a 'pair' or 'pair of nuts' which , is often used to refer to the number of testicles of a human male. And , of course, this doesn't even begin to approach the allusion to the human penis , a topic of much humorous discussion. That would be bad for getting money to build this robot. Essentially I'm saying that , on a practical level, calling this robot a 'ball bot' is going to elicit a lot of snickering from young people and people who laugh at gonad humor. They may even start calling it 'dick bot' or a 'penis bot' or a 'cock bot' . This would not be good for soliciting sales or investment that is always necessary to help accelerate the development of any fine robot. I would like to see this robot become more popular. So, please call it something different. For example, call it a 'sphere bot' or a 'globe bot' or a bowlingbot , anything but a 'ball bot' . This would likely help you actually get (more) money from investors.

Bolloxbot.

Why build a robot to bring u things from the fridge or show u where the fridge is.. That's why guys get married :) Don't even need to ask anything. Automatically knows when the bottle is empty, bring another haha

This didn't age well.

Why build something inherently unstable? You know, there's omniwheels and all that. THIS is how you waste research time, money, and man-hours.

Thanks Ralph! Don't know why they put "nagarajan" in that video. Were they afraid of somebody saying "racist" if didn't put a brown piece of shite in that video?