Thats great, nice idea too but I’m not sure an Eee would fit in a hamster ball…
BTW I think the artist in fact drew Mecanum wheels since the rollers are angled…
HAHAHAHA
i cant believe someone else thought of making one ><
The question is WHY???
Well I guess its cool!
Hey a new form of robot drive train? Now all we need to do is figure out how to link hamsters to PWM connectors.
Is that all u have to do? Or do you also need to connect the hamster to a Flux Capicator?
I’m sure there are harder things to do than connect the PWN to the hamster, but they might not respond to directions well…
Also remember the hamster ball is made out of unobtainium.
Seriously though I like this idea. It seems like it would be able to go almost anywhere. Except up stairs or steep inclines.
Actually, something like this would be pretty good at running laps in this years FRC
I considered suggesting that at our planning meeting but I thought it was a little silly… Too bad now…
This would be sick. It is kind of like the Mythbusters drive-able can they used in the Chef Boyardee commercial.-http://www.m5industries.com/html/portfolio/chef.htm Do you think you could make this out of Vex?
I’m pretty sure you could do this with VEX. You might need an Xtra-Large Hamster ball.
After doing a quick search on PETCO.com it appears that 7" is probably the standard size for a hamster ball. Considering that the Large VEX Omni wheel has a approx. 4" diameter fitting two in there would be tough. You could do it with a small Omni wheel. But those just don’t seem to work as well.
BTW Congratulations on getting me genuinely interested in this. I now want to actually make one of these:)
You can get them in larger sizes for rats. Here is a 13" one.
I think the hard part would be building the robot in pieces that fit through the hatch and then assembling it inside the ball. It may be easier to carefully cut the ball in half and then glue it back together once assembly is complete, but that is almost cheating…
Cheers,
- Dean
I guess I figured that they opened along the equator of the sphere… I’ve never actually used one before. I think this would only work if you could open it up along the equator.
you could do some CADing to find out just how many parts you would need to get into the hatch [minimum] to get it to operate
and you’d be able to create a design without re-making it over and over again…
personally, i’d go with the cheating method… because i’m a cheater
You guys are all crazy but in a good way. 
Awesome idea! Once i get a chance (meaning once school starts again) I’ll try this out!
yes it is mecanum wheels
I am actually thinking of trying this. I am going to buy one of those big “rat” balls. I am not going to use the webcam, but I am going to try to put a PIR sensor in it, https://vexforum.com/t/pir-motion-sensor-from-radio-shack/14356/1. So when it senses motion it starts to roll around. Does any one know if the PIR sensor is strong enough to sense motion trhough the rat ball? The hardest part is obviously going to be the drive train. I have 2 large omni wheels and I am just going to try to use them. I might also put an accelerometer in it so it knows which way is up.
I will try to keep you all updated!!
-Ben
That’s good! Right?
What you have here is lots of inventive people, thinking continuously about solving problems…
My favorite Quote right now is :
“Intellectuals solve problems; geniuses prevent them.”’
– Albert Einstein
If you believe this quote:
“Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment.”
– Jim Horning
ALL those “inventive people” are gaining that “experience” so as to move beyond “solving problems” to “preventing problems”.
I like quote number 2:D