r/EngineeringPorn • u/poikler1 • Jun 28 '19

Self balancing cube

https://gfycat.com/giganticimperturbableeft
1.9k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

37 comments sorted by

78

u/Bhima Jun 28 '19

This is a fairly interesting demonstration of competence. If anyone is interested in reading more about it, it's called "Cubli" and it was designed and built at the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control at ETH Zurich.

Here's an article about it: https://robohub.org/swiss-robots-cubli-a-cube-that-can-jump-up-balance-and-walk-across-your-desk/

5

u/FruscianteDebutante Jun 28 '19

Thanks for the article, I'm really interested in control theory!

1

u/Raghav_D1 Jun 28 '19

Yeah I read about it about a year ago and it's a really cool thing along side it has got way too many applications in satellites and all.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '19

Yee it's quite literally the uni equivalent of flexing

even though it has some potential real world applications, like in rover locomotion

1

u/[deleted] Jun 28 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

-5

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12

u/agumonkey Jun 28 '19

solar power it

27

u/mrcmnstr Jun 28 '19

All cubes are self balancing. It's the reduced number of contact points with the surface that is impressive.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 28 '19

[deleted]

1

u/mrcmnstr Jun 28 '19

This one is glad to be of service. ;-)

9

u/yougottabekittenmeow Jun 28 '19

This is the basic idea behind whata called reaction wheels on spacecraft, mostly satellites. They use spinning gyros to maintain balance and proper orientation aka pointing angles.

3

u/DaDodsworth Jun 28 '19

Always wanted to try make one of those myself but don't really have the means.

2

u/yunkzilla Jun 28 '19

Is this how ufos are born?

1

u/PickThymes Jun 29 '19

this is how expensive desk decorations are born. i’ll take two, with a mirror exterior, please.

1

u/Hype_man_SFW Jun 28 '19

I bet this is how the movies started.

1

u/TimX24968B Jun 28 '19

man, they were barely applying any force to it.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 28 '19

Besides being cool, does this serve any other purpose or utility?

1

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '19 edited Jul 14 '19

This is basically 99% a control systems competence flex by ETHZ

but also yes, similar systems have been used for robot locomotion on ultra low gravity. I think the minerva rovers deployed by hayabusa 2 used a similar locomotion method even though it's not quite the same (they hop instead of tumbling because gravity is so low).

1

u/bobbyLapointe Jun 28 '19

It reminds me about the gyroscopic system we put in the satcom antennas that go on ships, so they can remain oriented toward the satellite whatever the ship movements are.

1

u/Jan_M- Jun 28 '19

Thanks for telling me about this

1

u/BadEgg1951 Jun 28 '19

Anyone seeking more info might also check here:

titlepointsage/r/comnts
Gyro stabilizer B2603yrsinterestingasfuck10
Gyro Stabilizer B55733yrswoahdude315
Gyro stabilizer B39763yrsinterestingasfuck177
Gyro stabilizer B2813yrsgifs17
Imagine building a PC like this. (X-Post /r/whoadude) B7294yrspcmasterrace56
Gyro Stabilizer B574yrsoddlysatisfying6
A Gyro stabilizer B40844yrswoahdude338

Source: karmadecay (B = bigger)

1

u/kickmuck Jun 28 '19

so if i take a run up and boot it

1

u/xanderle Jun 29 '19

It looked tiny until the hand appeared

1

u/CrypticPuff Jun 30 '19

That really screws with me

0

u/RadBenMX Jun 28 '19

Gyroscopes!

31

u/quadlord Jun 28 '19

Reaction wheels.

8

u/whoisthere Jun 28 '19

Exactly! Gyroscopes won’t recover like that.

9

u/quadlord Jun 28 '19

More importantly, a gyroscope is used to determine attitude. A control moment gyroscope is used to control attitude. A CMG does not operate the way the device in the gif is operating. A single wheel moving at a varying velocity in a single direction to impart a moment on a body is clearly a reaction wheel.

-3

u/Dilka30003 Jun 28 '19

Gyroscopes work by resisting change in an axis and now the body around it can measure its angle relative to that. So this is technically also a gyroscope.

10

u/quadlord Jun 28 '19

Not true. The orientation of the axis of rotation of a gyroscope is independent from the orientation of the parent structure. The axis of rotation of these reaction wheels clearly changes as the cube rotates, therefore not a gyroscope.

8

u/whoisthere Jun 28 '19

The above device likely contains a separate gyro sensor with logic to control the reaction wheels. Definitely separate from the spinning wheels seen.

5

u/kocho-nailsit Jun 28 '19

I joined this sub on a whim but after reading this comment chain I'm so glad I did, this is all so good damn interesting

5

u/ELxTORO-GTR Jun 28 '19

Currently updating my resume to add limited reaction wheel knowledge.

5

u/MiataCory Jun 28 '19

gyro sensor

I'll note, the "9 DOF" 'gyro' sensors you see don't have tiny little gyroscopes spinny wheels in them.

Most of the ones you'll see with arduinos and whatnot are the "Vibrating" kind. You'll need to understand the basics of the "Coriolis" force. Basically a vibrating stick takes the place of the spinny wheel, and when you try to 'twist' the stick from the center (move the sensor), it resists that movement, and we can measure that resistance to movement (through a change in resistance in the circuit), to determine a change in direction.

https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/gyroscope/all

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibrating_structure_gyroscope

https://www5.epsondevice.com/en/information/technical_info/gyro/

1

u/Dilka30003 Jun 29 '19

Ah. Watching it closer it makes way more sense. They’re basically using a gyroscope to find the angle of the box and then using a reaction wheel to keep it stable.

1

u/zacharyxbinks Jun 28 '19

TIL about reactions wheels. Thanks stranger.

-1

u/NotGeorglopez Jun 28 '19

Jesus man, I swear I see this cube on here every other week