Péter Fankhauser: Meet Rezero, the dancing ballbot
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スイスの大学Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
（英語名：Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich）の
学部生が作ったロボット「リゼロ」
二足歩行でもなく、車輪でもなく、たった１つのボールの上に乗った？玉乗りロボットです。

【話題】 ボールボットとは？その使い道は？
【時間】５分１６秒
【要約】
１．ボールボット「リゼロ」
　　学部生10名で開発
　　１つのボールの上に乗ってバランスをとる

２．バランスを保つ仕組み
　　傾きの角度をセンサーで測る
　　モーターを動かして傾きに対応する
　　１秒間に160回の頻度で
　　ボールを操るのは３つの車輪

３．あえて不安定な形をとる理由
　　不安定さがむしろ活き活きした動きを生む
　　押しても元に戻るモード
　　受け身モード
　　後をつけるモード
　　周囲を回るモード

４．使い道は？
　　展示会で
　　テーマパークで
　　病院で
　　乗り物として
　　エンターテイメントとして

【語彙】

autonomous ：自律的な

counteract ：打ち消す

velocity ：速度

rezero

【transcripts】

Let me introduce to you Rezero. This little fellow was developed by a group of 10 undergraduate students at the Autonomous Systems Laboratory at ETH-Zurich.

Our robot belongs to a family of robots called Ballbots. Instead of wheels, a Ballbot is balancing and moving on one single ball. The main characteristics of such a system is that there's one sole contact point to the ground. This means that the robot is inherently unstable. It's like when I am trying to stand on one foot.

You might ask yourself, what's the usefulness of a robot that's unstable? Now we'll explain that in a second. Let me first explain how Rezero actually keeps his balance. Rezero keeps his balance by constantly measuring his pitch angle with a sensor. He then counteracts and avoids toppling over by turning the motors appropriately. This happens 160 times per second, and if anything fails in this process, Rezero would immediately fall to the ground.

Now to move and to balance, Rezero needs to turn the ball. The ball is driven by three special wheels that allow Rezero to move into any direction and also move around his own axis at the same time. Due to his instability, Rezero is always in motion. Now here's the trick. It's indeed exactly this instability that allows a robot to move very [dynamically]. Let's play a little. You may have wondered what happens if I give the robot a little push. In this mode, he's trying to maintain his position.

For the next demo, I'd like you to introduce to my colleagues Michael, on the computer, and Thomas who's helping me onstage. In the next mode, Rezero is passive, and we can move him around. With almost no force I can control his position and his velocity. I can also make him spin. In the next mode, we can get Rezero to follow a person. He's now keeping a constant distance to Thomas. This works with a laser sensor that's mounted on top of Rezero. With the same method, we can also get him to circle a person. We call this the orbiting mode. All right, thank you, Thomas. (Applause)

Now, what's the use of this technology? For now, it's an experiment, but let me show you some possible future applications. Rezero could be used in exhibitions or parks. With a screen it could inform people or show them around in a fun and entertaining way. In a hospital, this device could be used to carry around medical equipment. Due to the Ballbot system, it has a very small footprint and it's also easy to move around. And of course, who wouldn't like to take a ride on one of these. And these are more practical applications. But there's also a certain beauty within this technology.

Thank you.

Rezero - Ballbot Performance Display

ペーター・ファンクハウザ―「踊るロボット： ボールボットってなに？」

ペーター・ファンクハウザ―「踊るロボット：ボールボットってなに？」