maxon dc brushless motors make "ballbot" a reality

With the assistance of maxon motor engineers, a team of Swiss students has turned science-fiction into a reality by developing the world's first high agility, high stability ballbot.

Balancing on a single sphere, the robot, 'Rezero', can instantly accelerate in any direction, taking ball mobility to a new level in terms of both balance and speed.
Rezero achieves this remarkable act by constantly making minute adjustments, keeping its centre of gravity perfectly positioned. To move, the robot performs a controlled fall in the desired direction of travel, and then applies the exact amount of drive to the ball to hold it at a constant angle. It stops by outrunning itself, counteracting the forward momentum and bringing its body upright.
These precise movements require Rezero to be ready to move in any direction. Drive to the ball is delivered via three specially-developed omniwheel assemblies, allowing a complete range of axial and radial rotation.
To achieve the required performance, the academic team enlisted engineers from maxon motor to help specify a drive solution that would deliver the speed, torque and lightning responses necessary to maintain balance, within the limited space of the omniwheel housing.
With extensive experience in accommodating challenging designs, and technology designed to deliver maximum performance for its size, maxon's experts were quick to respond.
Together, the teams devised a combination of maxon's flagship EC-4pole dc brushless motor, 42 mm planetary gearhead and encoder, offering high torque and responsiveness in a compact unit. Further space was saved by using maxon EPOS 70/10 positioning controllers which, like all maxon controllers, can work as slaves in a CAN network.

The end result is a versatile robot that can respond in thousandths of a second, with an acceleration of 3 m/s², a top speed of 8 mph, and a maximum lean angle 20º. Indeed, Rezero is so responsive that its creators have incorporated a game mode, inviting bystanders to 'play' by jostling and pushing it around.
Ian Bell, maxon motor senior sales engineer said: "Making science fiction come true is just the kind of challenge we enjoy at maxon. We're all engineers, so it's always exciting to bring our specialist knowledge into a groundbreaking new project.

"The potential for such a device is huge. The developers have proposed it could be used as medical transportation, an automated photographer, a tour guide, or even a toy. One thing is clear - while Rezero is truly one of a kind, it is likely the first of many."
 

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