Ballu Is Part Blimp And Part Robot

The robotics researchers at the UCLA Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory have created a cool new robot that looks very different from the fancy and complex robots we are used to seeing researchers kick out. This robot is called Ballu and that stands for Buoyancy Assisted Lightweight Legged Unit. It has a body made using a helium balloon and that balloon stands on a spindly pair of legs that look like a crane's legs.

Using the very lightweight structure the robot is able to move around with ease and doesn't fall over. It can walk and hop with bipedal motion on its thin articulated legs. One catch to such a lightweight design is that it's not ideal for windy environments.

"To get creative ideas, sometimes we ask ourselves crazy, ridiculous questions," researcher Dennis Hong told Spectrum. "Oftentimes these lead to crazy, ridiculous answers, which lead to ingenious ideas." He added: "We asked ourselves, 'What if we could change the direction of gravity?' and this led to the concept of BALLU."

Ballu isn't lighter than air and can't float, it requires legs for support and to control motion. Each leg is very simple thanks in part to the light weight of the bot and those legs require only a single degree of freedom in the knee area. One catch to a lightweight design is that the bot is unable to perform tasks requiring it to hold anything heavy.

Hong says Ballu is a "walking information device." The team plans to work on other projects next with a quadruped version, a version capable of carrying payload, and a version with an articulated upper body. The team also notes they have a method for Ballu to jump over very tall objects, but that hasn't been implemented.

SOURCE: Spectrum