Originally published February 9 2005
Security systems may have a new tool in spherical robots
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A Swedish company that designed spherical robots for use in space exploration says that these round robots may also be useful in the field of security. By swinging a pendulum inside the sphere, the robot can move in any direction and is not as likely to get bogged down in snow or mud as a wheeled robot. The company is currently working on building models that will be able to run autonomously.
A spherical roving robot designed to detect and report intruders has been developed by a Swedish start-up company.
The design was first developed with planetary exploration in mind, at the �ngstr�m Space Technology Center, part of Uppsala University, Sweden.
But Rotundus, formed in December 2004 plan to market the ball-shaped bot as an automated security guard.
"It is very robust when compared to robots that use wheels or tracks and can travel through mud or even snow."
A short video (14.5MB mpeg) on the company's website demonstrates the robot's ability to navigate through snow.
Moving the pendulum forwards causes the robot roll along, but the pendulum can also swing from side to side, giving the robot the ability to steer left and right.
The finished version of the robot will follow a patrol route using an internal GPS sensor, Hulth says.
Wide angle cameras fitted to the sides of the robot should allow it to record and transmit video footage back to a controller.
And the next version will also have enough power to propel itself up slopes, he says.
It is currently developing a radar sensor to allow it to navigate around obstacles and motion-sensing software to automatically detect an intruder.
Tony Hirst, a roboticist with the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK, told New Scientist the robot's spherical design could make it more nimble than other robots in certain situations.
These robots use a combination of wheels and legs to scramble over terrain and are therefore dubbed "whegs".
A video (35MB mpeg) of various whegs in action reveals a form of locomotion akin to that of a large insect.
"Three spoked appendages, called wheel-legs, combine the speed and simplicity of wheels with the high mobility of legs," the researchers write on the project's website.
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