Spherical robot
{{Short description|Type of mobile robot}}
A spherical robot, also known as spherical mobile robot, or ball-shaped robot is a mobile robot with spherical external shape.{{cite book |doi=10.1109/AMC.1996.509415|chapter=Motion control of a spherical mobile robot|title=Proceedings of 4th IEEE International Workshop on Advanced Motion Control - AMC '96 - MIE|volume=1|pages=259–264|year=1996|last1=Halme|first1=A.|last2=Schonberg|first2=T.|last3=Yan Wang|isbn=0-7803-3219-9|s2cid=14135004}}
A spherical robot is typically made of a spherical shell serving as the body of the robot and an internal driving unit (IDU) that enables the robot to move.{{cite journal|last1=Mukherjee|first1=Ranjan|last2=Minor|first2=Mark A.|last3=Pukrushpan|first3=Jay T.|title=Motion Planning for a Spherical Mobile Robot: Revisiting the Classical Ball-Plate Problem|journal= Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control|date=2002|volume=124|issue=4|pages=502–511|doi=10.1115/1.1513177}}
Spherical mobile robots typically move by rolling over surfaces. The rolling motion is commonly performed by changing the robot's center of mass (i.e., pendulum-driven system), but there exist some other driving mechanisms.{{cite journal|last1=Joshi|first1=Vrunda A.|last2=Banavar|first2=Ravi N.|last3=Hippalgaonkar|first3=Rohit|title=Design and analysis of a spherical mobile robot|journal=Mechanism and Machine Theory|date=2010|volume=45|issue=2|pages=130–136|doi=10.1016/j.mechmachtheory.2009.04.003}}{{cite book |doi=10.1109/ICCEE.2009.133|chapter=Effect of Incremental Driving Motion on a Vision-Based Path Planning of a Spherical Robot|title=2009 Second International Conference on Computer and Electrical Engineering|pages=299–303|year=2009|last1=Alizadeh|first1=Hossein Vahid|last2=Mahjoob|first2=Mohammad J.|isbn=978-1-4244-5365-8|s2cid=18734506}}
In a wider sense, however, the term "spherical robot" may also be referred to a stationary robot with two rotary joints and one prismatic joint which forms a spherical coordinate system (e.g., Stanford arm{{Cite web|url=https://www.allonrobots.com/spherical-robots/|title=Spherical robots – All On Robots}}).
The spherical shell is usually made of solid transparent material but it can also be made of opaque or flexible material for special applications or because of special drive mechanisms.{{cite journal|last1=Ylikorpi|first1=Tomi J|last2=Halme|first2=Aarne J|last3=Forsman|first3=Pekka J|title=Dynamic modeling and obstacle-crossing capability of flexible pendulum-driven ball-shaped robots|journal=Robotics and Autonomous Systems|date=2017|volume=87|pages=269–280|doi=10.1016/j.robot.2016.10.019|publisher=Elsevier}}
The spherical shell can fully seal the robot from the outside environment. There exist reconfigurable spherical robots that can transform the spherical shell into other structures and perform other tasks aside from rolling.{{cite journal|last1=Shi|first1=Liwei|last2=Guo|first2=Shuxiang|last3=Mao|first3=Shilian|last4=Yue|first4=Chunfeng|last5=Li|first5=Maoxun|last6=Asaka|first6=Kinji|title=Development of an amphibious turtle-inspired spherical mother robot|journal=Journal of Bionic Engineering|date=2013|volume=10|issue=4|pages=446–455|doi=10.1016/S1672-6529(13)60248-6|publisher=Elsevier|s2cid=109405748}}
Spherical robots can operate as autonomous robots, or as remotely controlled (teleoperated) robots.{{Cite web|url=http://cim.mcgill.ca/~hva/Spherical_Robot/|title=Spherical Robot|website=cim.mcgill.ca}} In almost all the spherical robots, communication between the internal driving unit and the external control unit (data logging or navigation system) is wireless because of the mobility and closed nature of the spherical shell. The power source of these robots is mostly a battery located inside the robot but there exist some spherical robots that utilize solar cells. Spherical mobile robots can be categorized either by their application or by their drive mechanism.
Applications
Spherical mobile robots have applications in surveillance, environmental monitoring, patrol, underwater and planetary exploration, rehabilitation, child-development,{{cite journal |doi=10.1109/TSMCA.2005.850596|title=Autonomous Spherical Mobile Robot for Child-Development Studies|journal=IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics - Part A: Systems and Humans|volume=35|issue=4|pages=471–480|year=2005|last1=Michaud|first1=F.|last2=Laplante|first2=J.-F.|last3=Larouche|first3=H.|last4=Duquette|first4=A.|last5=Caron|first5=S.|last6=Letourneau|first6=D.|last7=Masson|first7=P.|s2cid=5337551}} and entertainment. Spherical robots can be used as amphibious robots viable on land as well as on (or under) water.{{cite book |doi=10.1109/ROSE.2011.6058541|chapter=Quadratic damping model for a spherical mobile robot moving on the free surface of the water|title=2011 IEEE International Symposium on Robotic and Sensors Environments (ROSE)|pages=125–130|year=2011|last1=Vahid Alizadeh|first1=H.|last2=Mahjoob|first2=M. J.|isbn=978-1-4577-0819-0|s2cid=11649614}}
Locomotion
Current research
The [http://www.spherical-robot.com/ research on spherical robots] involves studies on design and prototyping
dynamical modelling and simulation,
and navigation.{{cite journal|last1=Hou|first1=Kang|last2=Sun|first2=Hanxu|last3=Jia|first3=Qingxuan|last4=Zhang|first4=Yanheng|title=An autonomous positioning and navigation system for spherical mobile robot|journal=Procedia Engineering|date=2012|volume=29|pages=2556–2561|doi=10.1016/j.proeng.2012.01.350|publisher=Elsevier|doi-access=free}} From a theoretical point of view, the rolling motion of a spherical robot on a surface represents a nonholonomic system which has been particularly studied in the scope of control and motion planning.
Commercial spherical robots
Commercial spherical robots are available for sale to the public. Some current commercial products are GroundBot, Roball, and QueBall, as well as Sphero's BB-8, based on the droid character of the same name introduced in the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens.{{cite news|last=Hackett|first=Robert|title=Disney just developed the most adorable walking robot|url=http://fortune.com/2015/05/26/disney-walking-robot/|accessdate=July 23, 2015|work=Fortune|date=May 26, 2015}}
Samsung Ballie is a Spherical Rolling tennis Ball look alike personal robot which was introduced in Samsung CES2020.{{Cite web|url=https://www.samsung.com/levant/explore/experiences/ces2020/|title=Samsung at CES 2020|website=Samsung levant}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7N5UDZX7TQ&feature=youtu.be|title=- YouTube|website=www.youtube.com}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead Youtube links|date=February 2022}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.digitaltrends.com/home/ballie-is-a-rolling-robot-from-samsung-that-can-help-around-the-home/|title=Ballie Is a Rolling Robot From Samsung That Can Help Around the Home|date=January 7, 2020|website=Digital Trends}} Sajid Sadi VP of the research team at Samsung is quoted saying that "Ballie’s ability to move around enables it to respond to a person wherever they are. Parents could ask Ballie to check up on kids to make sure they’ve completed their homework, for instance, or monitor the types of television shows and movies they’re watching."{{Cite web|url=https://venturebeat.com/2020/01/25/samsungs-vp-of-research-on-making-ballie-mobile-personable-and-nonthreatening/|title=Samsung's VP of research on making Ballie mobile, personable, and nonthreatening|date=25 January 2020}}
See also
External links
- [http://www.spherical-robot.com Spherical Robots: Research, Design, Application]