Prototype of Ball-like Jumping Robot for Playful Learning

Free and structured play should be introduced to children during their childhood in a well-balanced manner. Balls may be used in both plays; therefore, we proposed ball-like robot which will provide children both types of plays. We focused on the jumping of the ball and developed a ball-like jumping robot. In this study, we reported the mechanical design, robot system, performance, and potential of the ball-like robot to jump continuously and turn right/left for controlling the jumping direction. The robot mainly consists of one vibration unit and two compressed springs. Two motions, jumping and turning, are generated by controlling rotation speed of eccentric motors constituting the vibration unit. The experimental results confirmed that the fabricated robot can control the jumping height and average turning angular velocity depending on the rotation speed of the eccentric motors. Furthermore, the robot can be controlled by an operator via commands from a computer with a short delay. The robot can move dynamically. We proposed applications for free and structured play using the ball-like robot from these results.