This Silly Helium-Filled Robot Can Do Some Amazing Things
Perhaps you've heard that Weebles wobble, but they don't fall down. That's a neat trick, but it's nothing compared to BALLU, certainly the most unique and innovative robot you'll come across today. BALLU is an acronym for Buoyancy Assisted Lightweight Legged Unit (via New York Post), and it's essentially a human-sized Party City balloon bouquet with a pair of flamingo legs. If you think that sounds wild, wait until you find out what it can do.
The robot is the brainchild of inventor and professor Dennis Hong. He created the original prototype while working at the Robotics and Mechanism Laboratory — or RoMeLa, for the acronym buffs out there. RoMeLa is part of UCLA's Samueli School of Engineering, which is apparently the secret cabbage patch for cool robots and wearable tech. BALLU made its debut at the IEEE International Conference on Humanoid Robots in 2016 where it not only turned heads, but turned the entire concept of walking robots upside down.
In an interview with IEEE at the time, Hong said, "To get creative ideas, sometimes we ask ourselves crazy, ridiculous questions." He went on to offer an example: "What if we could change the direction of gravity?" It was from that thought experiment that BALLU was born. The helium-filled body nearly counteracts the downward pull of gravity, making for an extremely lightweight robot that's physically unable to fall down. But for Hong and his team, that was only the beginning.
BALLU's bag of tricks
In a 2021 study published in the scientific journal "Frontiers in Robotics and AI," Hong and his co-authors outlined some of the challenges facing humanity's shared future with robots. In particular, they note that when massive and powerful machines malfunction, they're prone to cause damage to themselves and their environments, and can even be a threat to human lives. This isn't just a theoretical concern; it's been over 40 years since the first documented case of an automated robot killing a human.
Thanks to BALLU's thin frame and near weightlessness, there's no chance it could crush a human. But it also isn't well-suited for heavy lifting, either. Instead, they envision its primary payload to be information, which it would store in its legs among the rest of its electronic components. Once it's ready to move, BALLU really gets around.
This inexpensive robot doesn't just walk forward, backward, turn, and hop. It goes up and down stairs. It can jump from great heights. It can walk a tightrope and ride a skateboard. It can dance if the occasion calls for it. Heck, BALLU can literally walk on water, and you can see it all for yourself in the video above. It even looks like a quadruped version is in the works. While BALLU is still in the prototype phase, it's already proved that it's not just full of hot air.