Shape-Shifting Morphing Robot Concepts
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- čas přidán 22. 08. 2021
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I've previously attempted a soft inflatable robots, and a Tensegrity structure with a view to building a morphing robot. This time I'm looking at Erik Aberg's Ghost Kubes and deciding if this is a good way to make a morphing robot that can change shape to move along omni-directionally
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Former toy designer, current CZcams maker and general robotics, electrical and mechanical engineer, I’m a fan of doing it yourself and innovation by trial and error. My channel is where I share some of my useful and not-so-useful inventions, designs and maker advice. Iron Man is my go-to cosplay, and 3D printing can solve most issues - broken bolts, missing parts, world hunger, you name it.
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A droideka build from Star Wars would be so cool and I feel like it could really fit the style of this project too
Yup
That would be awesome!
Was just about to say the same! Great minds think alike!
I had the same thought. Also reminded me of this guys ball robot czcams.com/video/yn3FWb-vQQ4/video.html
That shouldn't be t to hard to build. You can steer and propel it using rotational moment and then have legs for turning by way of standing or cg shifting.
Looks like it would require a 'brain' to decide when to morph into the next shape so as to catalyze movement. currently it's like being on a swing and pumping your legs in the middle of the arc instead of at the ends.
Installs "Brain"
:What is my purpose?
:You're a ball.
:Oh My God !
Yeah I feel like it could utilise some sensors and an ai as to know when to fire each servo, because you can see it just about to roll over but then another one of its servo’s push it *backwards* instead of forwards.
@@planetdesign4681 yeah, that would likely be easily handled by a simple inverse kinematics algorithm and an inertial measurement unit like they've used on their other robots.
I would like to be brain of the ball robot
James: There is no stationary reference. We need an inertial measurement unit to help measure the angle.
Me: Ha ha look at the squidgy robot ball!
My dude really just made one of those nerf collapsible footballs lmao
For real though seeing your entire process for design and manufacturing is really cool
have a look at Zenta's MorpHex robot, does a simmilar method of movement but with each eighth (quadrant???) of the sphere being separated.
Had the same thought!
Love Zenta’s stuff!
I'm always amazed by your creations. Even one of your projects would probably take me a year to make!
@Gadget Addict. I know how you feel brother kkkk
This reminds me of one of those frisbee balls from the early 2000s
I had forgotten about those! What a blast from the past
My kids have one of those, they're out playing with it now 😂
same
They've made a comeback. My son got one for his birthday.
I love james recent content. The prototypes are so creative and interesting and the choice in footage is honest and i love how he shows the entire process with successes and fallbacks together. Such an awesome lil robot
Re: Ghost cubes. Is it really a big deal to have the cubes touch each other? Could there be some progress if the cubes are exploded a bit relative to one another to allow room for the pivot?
Or if the cubes are frameworks with internals?
chamfering the hinge edges could also give room for the hinge structure perhaps?
Have you considered using machine learning and train it to move effectively? Set up an enclosure and a sensor that tells the AI where the robot is in relation to a goal and let it teach itself how to move.
9:25 this is the point where I realised it would have been so much easier to just write a machine learning regression algorithm to, enable the ball to learn to efficiently roll on its own, than to program it manually.
Seriously consider this, it will not only save you a lot of time and efforts, but the ball would actually learn much better than you can ever hard-code from your limited human knowledge, logic and imagination.
Because the complaint mechanism you built certainly had the capacity to roll itself perfectly in any direction, that too smoothly, with perfect enough actuation timing.
It's like teaching a robot how to balance on a cycle, probably hard to hard-code but a cakewalk to let it learn on its own.
Maybe add a gyroscope (which again is optional, as the ML algorithm can just figure out which way is up from the visual markers that you can put on different sides, and let it see itself roll.
Or you can talk a more hardware orientated approach with accelerometer and gyroscopes, and let it learn internally without using a camera and sensor, but both will produce a perfectly rolling ball that you can even control with a remote.
(Setting the end point, and your system eill actuate itself to that point)
Do you know of any videos or articles on this approach? I would like to learn about this myself
it's not difficult to hardcode at all, each (euler) angle from the gyro/accelerometer directly corrosponds to servo values (just the sum of an offset/phase-shifted sin() multiplied by the range of the servo), to give you a different resting orientation. To make it move, i'd guess to just add some more phase shift, so the natural resting position is just off (in the direction you want the robot to move). Right?
Even if it's machine learnt, he's gonna have to add IMU measurements anyways in order to compute a reward for the RL agent.
I certainly don't want to talk trash on James because this is a great project. But have a look at the code on github. It is literally just moving the servos to some predefined position and repeating regularly. The code is less than 75 lines long (incl. blank lines)! So I guess before throwing ML at it he'll probably add a bit of dynamical model first...
You've imagined something you know you can't build and prototyped it. Your content is an inspiration to armchair engineers everywhere... keep it up
I tend to imagine things I know I can build, start building it and then hit a software bug, sleep it off then forget it ever happened and wonder why there is a vaguely phallic robot now on my desk.
Maybe something with 3 phases (3 * 120°) would provide more consistent rotation ?
Or 4, cycling around in one direction, instead of just switching between two states, indiscriminately of which direction it's trying to actually roll.
no necesarly is more important in this case program the ball whit some sort of retroinformation of the speed and posicion to know wat is the next step to move the ball
This has been done. There's a white ball that's rolls along pushing out the relevant middle joint at the right time to keep up the momentum. It can then transform into pentapod bot and walk. Let me know if you want a link to it.
Great work, otherwise. You're on your way to converging on the existing one.
Can you post a link to that rolling robot?
@@cameronbest MorpHex. It's been a while... It's actually a hexapod.
czcams.com/video/8yO-H22eNNg/video.html
Sorry, you are mistaken. The robot that James has made, and what Zenta has made is not exactly the same.
Zenta uses the method of 'pushing' off the ground with many different 'arms'.
James uses a mechanic where the robot is morphed to an extent where the center of gravity is always infront of where the ball wants to go, but it does look very similar, and I understand why you thought they were the same.
@@HaloWolf102 You're right about the differences in locomotion but I still consider them both as locomotive spherical robots. Obviously not 100% identical. Just like two different tetrapodal animals that move differently. One way might be more energy efficient etc but they're classified together further up the binomial hierarchy.
@@mozkitolife5437 Would you consider James's BB8 robot the same as this?
The inspiration for this project reminds me of the old "Rubic's Magic" puzzle, a series of plates with images of rings, linked or un-linked, that you manipulated to make the rings appear to change from one state to the other. The edges are all linked with plastic filament and allowed it to flip and shift shapes.
Had made 2d version of morphing origami cubes actuated by servo motor! These origami structures are amazing in translating simple rotary motion into complex movements!!
Great idea James!👌👌
I love the noise it makes kinda sounds like ASMR when it rolls, Love your projects keep up the great work!!!
Interesting to see the interplay of processes here between you as an engineer (albeit with aesthetics as a consideration) and Erik as an artist (albeit with engineering as an interest). An actual collab would be fascinating to watch.
I think it's funny you build robots every day but spin the display with your hands lol
Simplest solution to the problem ;)
great to see another video by james
The thing that crossed my mind when you were talking about the connection between blocks was muscle wire.
James! You just need to add some inertia to the middle of the petals to get it to start on its own, take some steel bars and strap them on the inside petals.
I like that you took us along for the ride to discover this robot design. Interesting to see and gives me a couple ideas too.
3:04 "played around in cad"... didn't you already show your Cardboard Aided Design...?
On a more serious note, adding an IMU to make it more dynamic seems like the next step. Right now the morphs sometimes push it along and sometimes seem to stop/slow it down.
Also, the first cube hinge design you showed, with the servo doubling as a hinge would work. For the cubes to fold correctly they only really need to touch at the corners, you can clearance the edges/faces for the servos as much as you want/need.
I see you watch bad obsession too
Watching you goad these small bots on the floor reminds me of a proud parent helping a child to walk.
It's basically Magikarp in ball shape...
Waiting for its evolution into Gyarados
If you're going with a sphere; there's a design I saw a while ago that was a twin-hexapod (basically two hexapods merged at each-other's back), which had legs that had the outer surface of the last segmentm, the "shins", shaped like a half of an orange's, uh, forgot the word, the wedge shapes you can separate inside the orange); so that when it would pull it's legs in the tips would join at the poles, and the tops of the hexapods' shins would meet at the equator. It was able to move both as a legged robot, but also by slightly pushing the legs out of the spherical formation it could roll along the equator, and turn by doing it asymetricaly between the two hexapods.
Excellent project 👍
I cant wait to see more of this little ball!
It's kinda big
It's beautiful as always 💗
Awesome video, thanks. For those wanting to skip the sponsor 7:08 to 8:16
Congratulations on 1milliob subscribers keep making us inspired and think creative thank you love ur vids ❤
This would be a great candidate for algorithmic learning, given the speed/timing/directional response interplay, so many variables!
Congratulations on your 1 million subscribers 👏👏👏
Excellent as always James :)
Pretty cool concept, I enjoyed watching it :)
Zenta's Morph Hex is still amazing czcams.com/video/yn3FWb-vQQ4/video.html Maybe there is some inspiration here.
Zenta's MorpHex has always been a big favourite of mine
did you ever consider engaging all the servos? Having 2 adjacent side squish while the 2 opposite sides expand? seems like it would roll on 2 edges rather than the face. when it rolls on the face, it is also balancing on the face. You achieve a significant amount of balance because of the symmetry, but variations in the individual parts could throw off the center of balance.
I think Les has the right idea. Two on one side stretching and the opposite two compressing. No design change required. To make it roll you need to shift the center af gravity away from the sphere center. Then at the appropriate time return those servos to neutral and get the next group working. Maybe a gyro would help.
I'm waiting for the moment when he becomes to Dr. Robotnik/Eggman. Another cool project James.
He's one good day away from becoming iron man.. But also one really bad day away from becoming a super villan 😂😂
I love oyur videos James. You are willing show show things even when they are less successful or even complete disasters.. :D Thanks.
BTW I think the key to getting like this ball to work is resonance coupled to precise feedback.. The same basic problem with all walking robots.
I liked your ghost cube concept of putting servos in each cube, and using strings to pull them together. It occurs to me that to over come the cabling issue you could have the power/control cables run inside the strings you use to pull the cubes together.
This looks interesting, you should definitely try out reinforcement learning to create a controller for it!
Adding to the electromagnet comments, could you have free pivots and activate/deactivate them to lock faces in place? So instead of actuating the hinges you can make areas flexible or rigid
Intresting concept with a more sophisticated controlling software and sensors as you said
Isn't there a similar shaped toy, only instead of a robot it a frisbee that turns into a ball?
I was thinking the same, though I can't remember at all what it was called
Edit: it may have been the "phlat ball." That's at least the same sort of toy
@@HollowRoll that's it, spelled with a ph because we haven't progressed from the 90's
Holy crap just realized you made it to 1 million subs! Are you going to make a celebration Video? Congrats!!!! Anyways, love these concept models and working through their evolutions!
Can you use electromagnets embedded internally on the sides of the cubes to push and pull the faces of the cubes?
My thoughts exactly. They'd also provide the pivot of a hinge.
Thought the same thing, but rare earth magnets on a servo that moves it to and from the face of the cube
everything good until the thing gets stuck to a metal surface
I remember seeing a hexapod that can fold up into a ball a few years ago. Would be neat to try and replicate that idea
MorpHex
This guy is a genius!
As an open loop automata it does pretty well. Closing the loop with an IMU would be fascinating, ,love the linear style drive and topology, The right SW could really make it move I expect. Great work.Looking forward to see how you translate , like some sea urchins ? penta
seems like it needs an angle sensor, it's being driven synchronously when it needs to morph based on its angle
When you think this "morphing for movement" based design ideas, you should not limit your "robot" moving only on plain terrains. Interestingly, this idea is more common in water living things. (like jellyfish). You can challenge yourself by making a robot who runs under water, moves with morphing with elastic 3d printed parts, copper filaments for waterproof electric conduction, etc.. I've been highly inspired with your good work! :)
Having the flex triggered by a gyro would put this over the edge. As you said, rolling doesn’t require a constant pulse, you want to flex the downward side as it passes the vertical to accelerate, and before the vertical to slow down. 🤷🏻♂️. Using more pointy end pieces would encourage it to roll towards the centre of the flexible sides too. A gyro would also help you determine which sides were downwards, so you can use all 4. Love this project ❤️
You could maybe use electromagnets to move the cubes with a really thin link
Slap an accelerometer in that bad boy to sense orientation and actively control which segments of the ball to actuate. Bet with some nifty programming you could get basic steering and decent speed. Regardless, great work and would love to see you come back to this project
james you have to design in a way you can change the center of gravity then it wil move toward it...
this. you have to factor in the center of gravity more to make it roll. It'll definitely have to be able to control the rate of motion, vs being a static cycle.
@@kasuraga right. And corresponding to the distance of COM and center of the ball youll get speed. if it can be modeled ...
Cool concept! With the Dune movie coming out, I think building some kind of morphing worm robot would be cool... Or an ornithopter, but I guess it would be quite hard!
Super cool!
You would need to add a giroscope and program it to shift in order to always keep a lump behind it and move that way instead of in a timer
I always enjoy your videos James. I’m just never sure why 😜
You are welcome for the 1 million subscribers:)
For a moment, i thought James was building a Bakugan!
This really reminds me of the 4 legged robot ball from Carl Bugeja. Maybe there's some room for inspiration there, a lot of the problems you mentioned I also remember hearing in their video
What you could do is add a mechanism that can detect rolling and sync the motion of the servos with it's rolling speed so that the servos in the direction in which it is rolling will always contract and provide force in that direction at all speeds
Reminds me of tumblebutts. Would love to see this turn into a droideka that a previous person suggested.
Really impressive!
Why not considering magnets for the cubes ?
We’ll done I just realised you had 1m subscribers it was a fun journey to get you where you are but keep up the good work
Could you use electromagnets to work the hinges? The hinge is attached a flexible joint and inside the box, electromagnets either repel or attract in order to drive the joint into the correct orientation (clarification: I'm talking about the joined boxes at the beginning of the video)
Mass man Vere level nenachadu lam panre 👍👍👍👍👍👍👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌💐
This is a very interesting idea, it reminded me of that bowling ball with Mark Rober. maybe try adding an inertial measurement unit so it can better time when to morph. idk.
An alternative to an imu might be capacitive sensors, because it's so symmetrical and omnidirectional, all you really care about, is what sides are touching/close to a surface
Would love to see you try a holographic personal assistant sometime in the future.
Driving the cubes from a central motor could work if you have a thin link that connects the two cubes. The link might need to be-able to stretch as the cubes rotate over each other, but it could work.
For the cube concept you can use strong electro magnets.
It works because I built a lame version of it for school. I had big cubes made of thin plastic sheets with electro magnets I made myself.
With your abilities you can make a way better job than me.
An interesting way for movement can be magnets attracting and repelling each other
You should use gyroscopes to detect the angle it’s at. And use that to make sure the morphing is at the correct timing
A tennis ball pattern for the outer ball might be beneficial for the issue of the ball losing momentum on the ends
Very interesting (as always).
Maybe a bit of weight in the middle of each of the four segments - that would give a bit more of an asymmetric balance force?
Would be cool to try a ball robot with pegs that push out in whatever direction is needed to control motion
could i recomend use an acelerometer and some other chip whit wifi and or bluetooth integrated like the esp32 or the esp866 and run some test whit a manual control to test the best way to roll the ball. i already builted a bb8 in the past and worked but still be a little slow and not all terrain but is a good prove of concept
Awesome
I wonder if you could use a gyroscope at the center of the ball to measure the angular rotation rate when it is pushed?
If so maybe through some machine learning you can have the arduino control the arms through a changing tune PID protocol to flex and retract the arms at a frequency that corresponds to how fast the ball is rolling.
Did you mentioned that you have too many wires along the boxes? Try wireless coding between the servos, and place the power wiring goes through the hinges or servos. Also make bigger boxes to include batteries inside..
Just a quick thought of me, instead of using servo's cant you use electromagnets inside the cube? By attracting and propelling you can probably move them. And contact points on the surface of the flat can provide power, only problem that it is lost during the movement so there has to be a small battery inside to overcome the loss during transition. Great project with nice challenges.
I remember there was a mechanic using a liquid tubes contained within construction squares, and levels themselves. There was a robot where lasers were used and it was on target, or off target, the robot would do something in response. I can't for the life of me remember what it was.
With the original cube hinges maybe you could power them with reversible magnets below the surface of each cube. If you simultaneously repelled the currently connected surfaces and attracted the adjacent ones you could probably flick it into new shapes without bulky powered hinges.
Impressive .. you should try doing motion of snake of some kind of animal
Instead of hinges it seems like some form of electrical muscle/smart material would be significantly preferable for the morphing shape - being able to act almost exactly like the thin tape. I don't even know if anything like this is actually available though, because the expanding/contracting mechanism in them would have to be extremely small and thin.
Perhaps pneumatic rubber tubing?
About a mechanism for the boxes- in most cases there are only 2 transformations- means 2 states. That could maybe be achieved with electromagnets inside the boxes- so corresponding surfaces can repel and attract on command but still can only go in the right way because of a thin hinge like in the cardboard models. It would be a very fast an brutal transformation though
The use of Nitinol wire joints would provide the thin edge connectivity and low current demand to adopt its memory form together with low weight
Did you do split testing to determine talking in that weird cantor improves views?
That's one step closer to Samus Morphball
Definitely gonna need a couple gyros and a logic computer, but this is an awesome idea
Who remembers Phlat Balls from the 2000s? 5:17
Crazy Future!
6:49 cha cha real smooth
Need to change it form with purpose, and not random, maybe something similar to the B-8 robot, and just the the direction sensor/control to expand the back side to the direction you wish to travel. But how to have a sensor moving or stationary inside and controlling the bot will be tricky, maybe have electric actuators inside, and have to push out in time, maybe can use something these 8 legend robot and use something similar to their programming so you can roll in 6 different directions, its starting to feel complicated 😩
Good luck!😉
Watching when you were working with the cardboard boxes. I couldn't help but think that you were too fixated on the boxes touching each other perfectly.
However, all you really need is for the outer faces to meet perfectly. This would allow you to set up the internal structure however you want while still keeping the effect.
Would it possibly work better with a more sinusoidal transition? The movement of the servos seems a little binary, so there’s almost like a bump that it has to roll over before changing shape. Really cool design, love watching the process!