Microdynamic Systems Lab, Carnegie Mellon University (USA) CMU Ballbot (1)

Microdynamic Systems Lab, Carnegie Mellon University (USA) CMU Ballbot (2)

Not soldNSF-funded research platform.

Not for sale (research)Not programmableFirst ballbotPerson-sizedInverse mouse-ball driveResearch

Not soldShipping: N/A. A university research robot. Never sold.

Remote control: Not possible. A university research robot with no public interface.

CMU project page ↗Wikipedia (Ballbot) ↗CMU 2006 press release ↗

Overview

The first working ballbot, shown by Ralph Hollis's group at ISRR in October 2005, a tall, thin robot that balances like an inverted pendulum on a single ball and can move in any direction without turning first. The CMU team showed it riding out shoves, navigating offices, and in 2011 it gained a pair of 2-DOF arms. It started the whole ballbot research field.

Specifications

Category	Spherical & rolling · Research & concepts
Released	2005
Availability	Not for sale (research)
Programmability	No programmability
Best for	Professionals & labs
Vision sensors	Lidar
Actuators	Unknown
Audio	No audio
Compute type	Unknown
Remote control	Not programmable
Size	Roughly person height and width, 95 lb (~43 kg)
Locomotion	Balances on one urethane-coated metal sphere driven by four rollers (inverse mouse-ball drive), plus a yaw motor, three retractable legs for parking
Compute	Onboard computer (details not published)
Camera	Not published
Sensors	IMU, encoders, Hokuyo URG-04LX laser range finder for localization and obstacle avoidance
Runtime	Not published
Speed	Not published
SDK	Lab-internal