A robot that balances on top of a metal soccer ball could become a model for more nimble android assistants. Ballbot, developed by Ralph Hollis of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, controls the ball using a pair of rollers. Balance sensors feed information to an on-board computer, allowing the bot to keep the ball under its centre of gravity.
Underwater 鈥済liders鈥� are patrolling an area of water off Point A帽o Nuevo, south of San Francisco, to provide oceanographers with real-time information about currents and pollution. The 10 submersibles, operated by a team at Princeton University, control their depth by inflating and deflating a bladder and steer themselves by shifting two internal weights.
