Ball-balancing robot could assist wheelchair users

A human-size robot balancing on a ball that acts as a spherical wheel can push wheelchairs as smoothly as a human assistant – and may carry out this caregiving task better than many humanoid robot helpers that walk on two legs.

The so-called ballbot was first developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania in 2004. In its latest form, it has the capability to manoeuvre a wheelchair indoors with minimal bumpiness for the wheelchair user. As such, it shows how robots could someday…