Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Path: brunix!uunet!gatech!darwin.sura.net!aplcen.apl.jhu.edu!news
From: ktc@onan.jhuapl.edu
Subject: Re: balancing_act
Message-ID: <1992Aug14.193217.17073@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu>
Sender: news@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu (USENET News System)
Organization: Johns Hopkins University
References: <1992Aug14.181900.26605@ee.ubc.ca>
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 92 19:32:17 GMT
Lines: 20

In article <1992Aug14.181900.26605@ee.ubc.ca> williamb@ee.ubc.ca (william  
burchill) writes:
> Could somebody post some information or suggest a book on sensors 
> for detecting balance, i.e. orientation relative to the horizontal plane?
> I'm praticularly interested in knowing what different types are available. 
> Are there any without moving parts?
> 
> I recently saw a t.v. program which showed a 1 legged hopping robot in
> action. How did this sense its balance? Could someone direct me to a 
> technical publication on this work?
> 
> thanks.

Check out anything by Marc Raibert (e.g, Legged Robots that Balance, MIT Press,  
1986, or CMU reports CMU-RI-TR-83-20, CMU-LL-4-1985). The machine in question  
used an inertial reference (gyroscope) to sense up. I seem to recall he had  
problems with keeping bearings in the gyros due to impact loading (falling  
down?)

Kim
