Technabob » ball

Transforming Morphex Robot Now Rolls in a Ball, Calls Itself Samus

Conner Flynn — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:30:16 +0000

Remember that omni-directional robot called the Morphex? The ‘bot had the ability to transform from a ball to a robot and back. This robot was created by Norwegian Engineer Kåre Halvorsen and it is a neat little piece of technology. Now the Morphex has learned some new tricks of the Metroid variety. It can not only transform from a ball to a robot, but it can also roll around.

The robot uses the motors on one side of its body to push itself along while contracted into a ball. It may not be the best way to roll, but it does the job, although it moves in an arc rather than a straight line. It can’t straighten itself out yet, but that capability will come one day. Halvorsen has some ideas to fix this, like reworking the legs, and plans on allowing it to move in any direction with its next upgrade. He also plans to add 36 RGB Starlite LED’s to improve things visually.

Its builder currently has his eye on winning the Boca Bearings 2012 Innovation Competition with this ‘bot. That would win him $10,000, which would go a long way toward improving upon this already awesome robot.

[via Geek]

Sphero Gets a Ride of Its Own

Conner Flynn — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 18:00:33 +0000

Remember Sphero, the robotic ball of fun? Well, apparently he’s growing up really fast and has his license now, along with a new set of wheels. It was created with parts like a discarded toy car, trackball, an Arduino kit, and an H-Bridge.

A developer hacked all of these pieces together and created this neat little car for the robot ball. The Sphero drives by rolling on top of the trackball sensor. The ball is controlled by a smartphone app that can also change the color that the ball glows. The problem with the Sphero is that it is just a glowing ball and it gets old quick, but with a vehicle? Now we are talking fun.

That’s just the kind of thing Orbotix, the company behind the Sphero, is trying to encourage as they curate a development community for this little ball. They want to provide owners with as many new ideas and games as possible.

[via TechCrunch]

Jedi Training Remote Alarm Clock Should Zap Younglings Out of Bed

Technabob — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 18:00:10 +0000

I really like the design of this alarm clock, based on the Jedi training remote Luke Skywalker used in the original Star Wars. It really does look like it. But instead of firing sparks of electricity at your lightsaber, this orb is designed to wake Jedi younglings from their slumber.

While I wish you had to slash it with a lightsaber to shut it off, they decided that you’re supposed to throw it across the room in order to shut the alarm off. I suppose that’s a good way to get your aggression out first thing in the morning, but I’d be afraid that I’d break it (or something else in its path of destruction.) It’s not like it looks like this thing is made from rubber after all.

To make your morning routine more challenging, be sure to wear a helmet with the blast shield down when you reach for it.

The Jedi Training Remote Alarm Clock should be out this April/May. I haven’t found a U.S. retailer yet, but they are available for pre-order now over at Australia’s Frontline Hobbies for $29.99 (AUS) (~$32 USD) and at UK seller ForbiddenPlanet for £19.99 (~$31 USD).

2,000 Tennis Balls Bounce Through Art Gallery in Spain

Hazel Chua — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 01:00:13 +0000

Sometimes, pictures lie, and that’s no lie. I can personally attest to that, having bought tons of clothes and books via the Internet, only to get them in the mail and wonder why what I got was incredibly different from what I thought I bought. The pitfalls of online shopping, I suppose.

But these photos that you’re about to see? Let’s just say that what you see is what you get with these.

The tennis balls might look like they were added using Photoshop or with some other photo-editing software, but Spanish artist Ana Soler actually hung 2,000 or so of them as part of her art installation piece called Causa-Efecto (Cause & Effect).

The balls have been carefully hung and aligned to look as if they are in the process of bouncing off of the walls and floors ofthe Mustang Art Gallery in Alicante, Spain.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how Soler created this art piece:

Talk about art, hard work, and dedication.

[via CollabCubed via Colossal Art + Design]

Angry Birds Playground Balls: Kick Some Birds Around

Technabob — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 23:30:47 +0000

The Angry Birds have turned up just about everywhere, so why not on the school playground, too? With these Angry Birds playground balls you can get your aggression out by tossing around some inflated birds.

At just 5″ in diameter, they’re actually a little small for a game of kickball, but they’re perfect for impromptu Angry Birds IRL setups. Just grab a few of the green piggy balls, set them up on some wood blocks, and start throwing some birds at ‘em.

They’re available in red bird, (non-exploding) black bird and green pig varieties, and you can grab them over at the Neatoshop for $7.95(USD) each. You can also find some bigger 8.5″ diameter ones over at Amazon for around $17.95 each.

Katamari Christmas Tree is a Real Ball

Technabob — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 01:00:43 +0000

I have to make a confession. I bookmarked this image all the way back in January 2009, thinking to myself that I should post it for Christmas that year. Of course, I completely forgot about it, and just found it again. Being that it’s the Christmas season now, I figured, why not put it up along with the stockings now?

What you’re looking at here is a Christmas tree, Katamari Damacy style. At least this is what one looks like after it’s rolled up all the ornaments, lights and tinsel from an ordinary tree. Though I’m surprised there are no little elves or tiny reindeer in there, with their arms and legs flailing about. Maybe once the Prince rolls it around a bit more.

This awesomely geeky creation was posted by flickr contributor szy a couple of years back, but it deserves to be a regular geeky holiday tradition, right alongside the Pac-Man Xmas tree, I think.

Throwable Panoramic Ball Cam Gives You a 360 Degree View

Conner Flynn — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:00:35 +0000

Smartphones are great for snapping pictures, but what if you want the shot from more than one angle? Well, that’s what the Panoramic Ball Cam is for. It has 36 mobile phone cameras built in, so you can just throw it in to the air and capture 360-degree panoramic photographs.

Just throw it up and once it reaches its highest point, all 36 cameras take a pic and all you need to do is catch it. Maybe in the future, all sports will have camera balls like this so we can see instant replays and other stuff from every angle.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

After you take the pics, just download them to a computer and it stitches them together into a panorama. The Panoramic Ball Cam was created by Jonas Pfeil, Kristian Hildebrand, Carsten Gremzow, Bernd Bickel and Marc Alexa. It was programmed using C, C++, QT, and OpenCV, and the pictures that it takes are pretty impressive. No word on if or when this gadget might hit the market, but I’m sure it won’t be cheap.

[via SlashGear via Geeky Gadgets]

Zombie Bowling Balls: Heads Will Roll!

Technabob — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 21:44:32 +0000

It’s not often that you come across creative bowling balls. Sure, there was the time we had those Star Wars balls, but they didn’t even bother to make a Death Star ball. How lame is that? Somebody needs to get to work on that. One thing that is not at all lame are these awesome zombie head bowling balls.

Each hand-painted ball features a disfigured and decapitated zombie noggin, with plenty of gore oozing forth from the strategically-placed finger holes in their eye sockets, nostrils and mouths. The gashes on the back of their heads is a nice touch too.

The zombie bowling balls were created by Jung van Matt/Elbe ad agency to help promote Germany’s 13th Street horror/science-fiction television channel. These are the same guys behind the equally clever Stationery of Horror.

Even better yet, they went around to various bowling alleys, swapping out the standard balls for these. I would so play with these if I saw them at the local alley. If nothing else, I know what my accessory should be for my Halloween costume this year.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via Thinng]

Infectious Disease Stress Balls: Gotta Catch ‘Em All!

Technabob — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 16:19:41 +0000

Looking for a good way to rid yourself of all that pent up stress you have coursing through your veins? While it might not be as good as this, you can certainly work out some of your aggression with a stress ball. But you don’t want an ordinary stress ball, right? You want one of these.

With just a squeeze, this ordinary looking blue ball emits a gross green ooze reminiscent of some sort of puss-filled infections disease. Yum. There’s nothing more appetizing than that. And if the blue/green bubonic plague infection isn’t good enough for you, you can choose from smallpox (green with orange pustules), zombie virus (red with green pustules), or a deadly case of the cooties (red with red pustules). Can I say pustules one more time? Collect them all and increase your chances of a nasty new mutated strain FTW!

I think if you’re a doctor specializing in infectious diseases, you need to fill up your waiting room with these to break the ice with your patients. Catch them all over at ThinkGeek for just $4.99 (USD) each.

Billiard Ball Flash Drive: 8GB in the Side USB Pocket

Range — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:44:45 +0000

Check out this cool USB flash drive that was designed by Alain Berteau for Tamawa. This flash drive is made out Bakelite, the same material out of which they make billiard balls. What’s really cool is that you can choose a between a combination of 7 colors for each of the ‘beads’ that make up this flash drive.

Since you can pick the colors for each component, there are a ton of possible color combinations. The flash drive itself stores 8GB and is made up out of two identical 21mm Bakelite beads, that close up perfectly when the flash drive is not in use.

They are available in seven official snooker colors and will cost €86 (~$124 USD) and can be ordered of Tamawa’s website.

[via MoCo Loco]

Sphero: Get Your Hands on Some Remote-Controlled Glowing Balls

Shane McGlaun — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 02:11:31 +0000

Balls are very near and dear to most men’s hearts. We use them for all sorts of fun and games. We try to take care of our varied balls and keep them from harm’s way. No one wants one of their balls to go flat for instance or explode due to mishandling. We also want to be sure that our balls don’t get stained, so we wash them frequently. Balls are a wonderful thing, but they do require some maintenance and care.

A nice set of robotic balls would be pretty cool too, I think. These Sphero remote-controlled robotic balls that glow are perfect for all geeky guys. They are even good for the ladies too. That way your lady friend can have her own balls to play with so she won’t be tempted to take yours and crush them accidentally or play too rough with them and cause permanent damage. It pains me to even think of balls being mishandled. The Sphero balls will work with a cool golf app called Sphero Golf on both Android smartphones and the iPhone.

Sphero balls are controlled by Bluetooth via your smartphone. If you are the developer sort, you can use the API to make apps that will let you play with your balls in new and interesting ways. The Sphero balls are 2.9-inches in diameter and can roll all around in any direction. Rolling balls make me a bit nervous honestly; I always fear they will get stepped on.

Sphero balls will be priced at $130 (USD) and you will get the Sphero ball, the Sphero golf app, and two other apps as well for the price. You will be able to get the remote controlled Sphero balls later this year, but you can pre-order some balls now so you know you will have balls in hand come the holiday season. Balls.

[via Wired]

Rollin’ Justin the Robot Plays Catch

Technabob — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 02:51:58 +0000

While it seems like a simple task, teaching a robot to catch a ball that’s thrown into the air is much harder than it sounds. But it’s no problem for the DLR’s robot, Rollin’ Justin, who’s been trained to catch balls in his grippy robo-hands.

Using stereoscopic cameras and advanced computer-vision software, Justin can track a flying ball through the air then position his hands to within 2 centimeters of the ball’s landing zone in as little as 5 milliseconds thanks to his speedy and stable arm and gripper mechanisms. His wheeled base doesn’t hurt his 80%+ catch rate either. This means Justin is probably as accurate as you or I when it comes to nabbing balls thrown in the air. See Justin in action in the video below. After he’s done playing catch, you’ll get to see him fix a perfect cup of coffee.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I wonder how fast Justin could catch a scorching hot cup of coffee thrown at him?

[via Hizook via PlasticPals]

Moneual Play Ball PC: What Has Three Balls, Six Axes and Seven Windows?

Technabob — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 02:07:54 +0000

Would you believe what you’re looking at is a PC? Yep. This set of orbs is a completely functional Windows 7 PC, courtesy of the guys at Korea’s Moneaul.

The Play Ball PC comes with three spherical pods, one which contains the main computer, and the other two which house matching speakers. The main pod’s computer runs on the Intel Atom chipset, has a built-in 64GB SSD storage device and 2GB RAM. In addition to built-in 802.11n networking, it also connects wirelessly to the battery-powered speakers. According to it’s manufacturer, the whole thing will be completely wireless, so I’m wondering if the computer itself will have a rechargeable battery too. It probably does, since both the computer and speakers snap into that white monolithic docking station.

The computer also features a 6-axis gyroscopic sensor, which lets you use the computer itself in place of a mouse, and allows you to interact with the media playback interfaces without a keyboard. Of course, they call this thing an HTPC, but any real home theater guru would never live with just a pair of wireless 15-watt speakers for their sound system. While it probably won’t win any awards for sound output, it certainly will be a cool conversation piece sitting in your living room.

There’s no word on when you’ll be able to get your hands on one of these oddities. As a matter of fact, I can’t find it up on Moneaul’s website yet. That said, I know it’s at least been turned into a prototype, because I took the photos above myself during CES last week.

CTA Bowliing Ball for Kinect, Wiimote, Move Strikes Out

Technabob — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 00:56:36 +0000

We can always rely on the guys at CTA Digital to show up at CES with some goofy add-on for gaming consoles. This year is no different, and they’re showing a variety of silly business. My personal favorite (next to these inflatable karts for Mario Kart) is their bowling ball add-on for the various motion-controlled games out there.

This thing is rather ridiculous, especially the one for the Kinect, as it’s really just a plastic bowling ball with a wrist strap attached. At least the Wii version has controls built in, and the one for the PlayStation Move holds onto the controller.

Here’s a quick video clip I nabbed of the Kinect version in action.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Check out the incredible bowling skills of this CTA Digital employee as she knocks down a whopping one pin. At least she didn’t throw it through the screen.

Frankly, I don’t really get accessories like this. You can really only use them for a single game, and with the Kinect, you could just use an actual bowling ball if you wanted to be accurate. Just remember not to release it from your hand.

Earl, the Robotic Bowler

Technabob — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 21:49:45 +0000

I actually was pretty decent bowler when I was a kid, but on the rare occasion that I go bowling these days, I usually get a score that I’d rather have for my golf game. It would be cool to have have one of these robotic bowling machines to bring to the alley, so I could still beat my friends on a consistent basis.

EARL, the Enhanced Automated Robotic Launcher is, according to this video clip, “the single greatest piece of bowling technology known to man.” Hmmm. I thought the ball was the single greatest, followed closely by the pin.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

As you can see, EARL takes on PGA bowler Chris Barnes, and manages to hold his own for the most part. However, EARL’s perfection is ultimately its Achilles’ heel. Since humans can make tiny corrections to make sure they’re not wearing down the same spot in the alley over and over again, Barnes manages to beat EARL by a score of 259 to 209. Still, that’s about double a “really good” game for me.

My favorite part of the video is where Barnes says (referring to EARL,) “the capabilities are fairly limitless.” Really? What else can this bowling ball-throwing robot do? Cure cancer? Turn around the economy? Eh, at least it can get a Turkey. That’s way more than I can pull off.

[via Adafruit Blog]

Gearbox Ball: Ball 2.0

Lambert Varias — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 11:07:27 +0000

A new company called GearBox wants to create “flexible hardware platforms that are controlled from your phone”. Their first prototype is a wireless robotic sphere that can be controlled simply by tilting your phone, assuming that your phone has the necessary sensors.

It’s a neat concept in itself, but combined with apps, it gets a lot more awesome. For example, GearBox is working on a “Sumo” app for the ball. Users place their GearBox balls on a table and try to knock each other’s balls off. The app also has a cool feature – stats and specs: “…there is also an onscreen component with online stats, profiles, damage, powerups and other aspects of gameplay that aren’t possible with a regular remote control toy. For instance, when the balls collide they can sustain “damage” and roll slower or I could get a powerup to reverse your controls for a few seconds.” Nice!

The prototype ball uses Bluetooth to communicate with a phone from as far away as 100 feet. Its little servo motor outputs allow it to move.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

GearBox is hoping that third-party developers can think up of more apps or games for the robot ball, like golf or curling games, or even something that would make it fun for your pets to play with. Or an app that would make the ball hit people’s faces at random. Seriously though I think it’s an awesome toy; I hope that they can make the ball bounce and jump. Now that would really be the a reinvention of the ball. Remote basketball anyone?

[via GearBox Blog via designboom]

Japanese Soccer Robot Could Put Human Players Out of Business

Range — Mon, 03 May 2010 17:31:09 +0000

Actually, probably not. Robots are still clunkers in my book. However, it looks like the RoboCup Japan Open 2010 is currently happening in Osaka, Japan. It’s the world’s biggest robot soccer tournament (!) and has 225 teams from all over the world competing for the ultimate title in robot soccerdom!

The competition was started in 1997, and has a goal of creating a bunch of robots that will ultimately defeat a bunch of humans playing soccer, likely sometime in 2050 – after Skynet has won. Lofty goal, but for now, it’s just a fun competition to check out.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

This robot in the video above was developed by Professor Asada’s lab at Osaka University and the Osaka Institute of Technology. Its body has 22 joints and uses a servo motor with 327kg/cm of torque. Despite all of that, a lowly snail could probably still block it from kicking a goal.

[via Crunchgear]

Swirl Washing Ball Concept Harnesses the Power of Your Offspring to Wash Clothes

Lambert Varias — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:43:14 +0000

Conceptualized by designaffairs studio with developing countries in mind, the Swirl is a “washing ball” that also serves as a clothes bin, a container for water, and a toy.

The idea is that you place your dirty clothes in the Swirl, which can be push or pulled via its detachable handle or even better, kicked along to where you get water. Once you’ve added water and detergent to the Swirl, you can now go home, knowing that your clothes are being washed as you roll or kick the ball home.

Makes a lot of sense doesn’t it? Of course the efficacy and efficiency of the Swirl as a tool for washing clothes is debatable; the swirling patterns on the ball are supposed to help with that.

I think the Swirl – or something like it – could work as an actual product, but they should remove the toy aspect in the final product. Can you imagine how hard it would be for a kid to kick or roll around a durable plastic or steel ball that’s filled with clothes and water?

[via designboom via Design Launches]

Lethal Pneumatic Ping Pong Gun: ‘Nuff Said.

Lambert Varias — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:45:51 +0000

MAKE magazine fan/artist/inventor/sculptor/prototyper/modern da Vinci Ron Kissinger built an air-powered gun that turns ping pong balls into balls of fury.

The gun has a magazine that can fire up to 14 shots. It takes a few seconds to load the ammo – i.e. a ping pong ball – and prepare the gun, but there’s no doubt that it’s lethal.

Kissinger also injected water into ping pong balls, creating some plywood-destroying, extra strength ammo.

Here’s the gun in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Don’t try this at home. You might have too much fun.

[via TinyEnormous via OhGizmo]

Elekit Tornader Robot is Really a Ball

Technabob — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:56:29 +0000

This robot kit from Japan lets you build your own ball shaped robot that can pull off all sorts of wild and crazy moves as it gyrates around your floor.

While the Tornader robot from Elekit can drive slowly around the floor like most remote-controlled vehicles, the real fun starts when you set the Tornader into one of its insane spin modes.

Once the ‘bot builds up sufficient speed, it’ll fly around in a wild orbit that’s reminiscent of an out-of-control breakdancer who drank a few too many Red Bulls before hitting the dance mat. Check out this video clip of the Tornader in action and you’ll see what I’m talking about:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The 5-inch diameter robot kit takes about an hour to put together, but from the looks of the video, is well worth the effort. Each Tornader ships with a multi-channel infrared remote, which lets you operate up to four of them in the same room at the same time for complete robotic chaos. And each robot has a customizeable space on the side where you can place one of a variety of colorful printed patterns that’ll have your head spinning when the Tornader hits maximum speed.

While the Tornader is officially only available in Japan, the guys at Japan Trend Shop have started to sell them worldwide for $121 (USD). Of course, if you happen to live in Japan, you can get yourself a much better deal, since the Tornader retails there for just ¥3990 (appx. $44 USD).