Control and Collaboration of Self-Balancing Spherical Robots

For some restricted space environment detection challenges such as narrow tunnels, pipelines, and high obstructions, the omnidirectional spherical robot has the preferable characteristics of low power consumption, high stability, and high mobility. With the help of image sensors and computer vision recognition technology, the spherical robot can be used to detect specific target objects in such confined spaces. In this paper, we designed a compact and flexible self-balancing spherical robot system with a motion controller based on a mix of existing design patterns and realized the collaborative detection operation of multiple spherical robots. Experimental results showed the proposed design had better repeatability than a typical design of Hamster ball with universal wheels, and the multi-robot task could be accomplished by utilizing the Wi-Fi Direct technology.