This is cool. Is this how robots normally balance themselves, or are there implementations that don't require spinning wheels?
This is cool. Is this how robots normally balance themselves, or are there implementations that don't require spinning wheels?
I'm actually more enamored with the cool look of the thing rather than the fact that it can balance.
Same. Immediately checked if it is for sale (apparently it costs $2500 if you do it yourself).
Would be fun to try and low-cost it. I can already imagine replacing the aluminum face parts with laser-cut acrylic. It also sounds like the motors are another expensive part that likely can be low-costed.
The stainless steel flywheels though..... No ideas.
I wonder if it would be possible to balance this thing by sloshing fluid around, or with linear actuators moving weights around.
Or maybe a pair of motors, moving two circles with weights on their rims around, to shift the center of gravity around until it's stable enough to park them on opposite sides?
I wonder what the cheapest possible build for something like this is, if you loosen enough constraints - let's say, if we allow it to be externally powered, and agree that size doesn't matter.
Would it be cheaper (and/or safer) to build a larger one, allowing for larger-but-slower flywheels? Could you make one out of a couple of scrap bicycles?
Great art. This other thing he built is totally different, but just as fun to look at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9jyNIWsRvI
I love engineers who make art so much.
I wouldn't say this other project is totally different. In fact, he can probably easily combine the two!
It would be fun if the LEDs changed or did something special based on the rotation.. :o
I remember seeing his M&M sorting machine several years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceGlMV4sHnk
Now make it operate silently so that I can actually put it in my living room. ;)
Reminds me of the self balancing train that rode on a single, small rail track. Project got cancelled because the double rail system was already well established.
Isn't it more likely that idea got abandoned because a failure of the balancing system would be catastrophic?
+ intensive in terms of energy usage + needed a second gyro to feel like you are standing in a flat environment.
Details for the curious: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyro_monorail https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUYzuAJeg3M
Note that reaction wheels do not make use of gyroscopic torque (which balances these monorails). They are different control mechanisms. Altho both use spinning wheels.
More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_moment_gyroscope
So cool! Wondering if this technology can be used to control spacecraft attitude or does it require a fixed support? How heavy do the flywheels need to be in relation to the total weight?
Wondering if this technology can be used to control spacecraft attitude
It can indeed, and is already used in the wild today!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_wheel#Examples_of_spa...
That list has three examples, but to be clear for others: Nearly every satellite has reaction wheels. There are literally tens of thousands of reaction wheels in orbit.
Totally does work, lots of spacecraft use reaction wheels to control attitude.
As mentioned in the article, reaction wheels are the standard method used to control satellite attitude.
On sundays I usually get hyped reaching new heights with code. Gratified by pushing perseverance and crearivity. then I come across posts like this one and feel totally powerless, having very short patience span, and too scared to even try such things.
Yeah, but this is kind of orthogonal to what you and I do.
I felt pretty good over the past few weeks after finally starting to learn React on the side, and building something that some of my friends are going to use. Sure, it doesn't have the "whoa" factor, but it also didn't cost $2500 to build (not including the years [decades?]) spent learning.
If you feel bad about yourself because of that, think of it not like something personal, it's a lot connected to the environment you are from, and some factors cannot be controlled.
It's actually the ultimate sign of luxury when you have time to study, AND resources to go to a good school, AND enough free time and money to spend on gadgets, AND you can afford to throw thousands on something useless, etc.
(All that said, the creation is cool and very nice work from Willem specifically)
Why are you on Hacker News instead of practicing your software engineering skills? -50 points for Griffindor!
Next I want to see a pencil that balances itself on its tip.
What about a coin that always lands on its edge?
If the pencil can be very short, just put this cube on top of it.
My first reaction when I see one of these is "where can I buy one?" And then I realize that it's not unlike having an open-face blender with those flywheels spinning at 6000 rpm. I am not sure I would feel comfortable with something like that near my hands.
Maybe some thin plexiglass around it would be fine - not sure if it would compromise the mechanism though.
Very cool! I'd like to see one of these made into a permanent sculpture, where the battery is removed and energy is provided via the contact plate itself.
We need to get the guy who made this one and Tony Rosenthal together, unfortunately, however, Tony is dead.
Like any experienced controls engineer, I spent a few days flipping the signs of various signals before I got them right.
As somebody with a M.Sc. in controls & signal processing (who ended up doing way more boring things), I always figured that I was doing that because I wasn't experienced enough. Turns out I also had the sign wrong on that one all along!
You are not alone. I've come to terms with the reality that every controller I've designed and implemented will always need a good amount of unit test coverage to ensure proper behavior (like signs and directions)...
What a pleasing object.
Probability courses would be funny with that thing.
Roll the dice.
Haha this is great, dude. Man it looks so well machined too.
This is exactly the sort of artifact you expect a wizard to have floating above their hand on a fantasy pulp's cover, circa 1955.
Can someone explain the reason for the massive font-size on the website?
Cool functionality aside, it looks beautiful.
Impressive work! Some people have all the time in the world it seems!
That said, it's not really "designing" if you're "building" something that already exists, is it?
Makes me think to the Brennan monorail train.
Very interesting video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUYzuAJeg3M.
I plan to add mechanical brakes to the reaction wheels...This enables jump-up manoeuvers which in turn enable the cube to get to its equilibrium position on its own.
Looking forward to this -- I always thought that was the coolest part of the Cubli project. Here's a video: https://youtu.be/n_6p-1J551Y?t=92
Well I need one.
The OA
I very much enjoy my career as a software engineer, but man there’s a side of me that wishes I had studied something where I could even begin to build something like this. Super super cool!
If you've got 2 wheels side by side like a Segway, all you need is the IMU and those 2 wheels.
True, but for something like this, would it work with a magnet?
This is what you'd need:
https://eu.mouser.com/ProductDetail/TDK-InvenSense/ICM-20948...
Tons of different implementations out there for balancing. Maybe the most common one is the one we humans use, which requires zero wheels :)
How does ours work?
Legs
Most robots are passively balanced by having multiple wheels on the ground. Walking robots balance actively without active gyros by moving their limbs.
Spacecraft (which most roboticists would call robots) typically orient themselves using a combination of reaction wheels, magnetic torquers and thrusters. The reaction wheels spin rotate the aircraft by “taking” angular momentum into their own rotation. They don’t require a local magnetic field or the expenditure of fuel, so are a nice choice.