Rezero - Focus Project Ballbot

Long time no see! While we did not share any news with you for...

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 12:17:20 -0500

Long time no see!

While we did not share any news with you for over a year now (sorry for that!), we have been busy working on many projects. Early 2012, Rezero has been visiting Asia for the first time, starring at the Techkriti in Kanpur. But we also continued development on the platform itself. Since March 2012, a new version of our custom designed omniwheels are ready to be used. Additionally, we met a lot of interesting people and possible partners for future projects. This was a very inspiring experience and we developed a whole bunch of new ideas.

While some people tend to forget that Rezero is a student project itself, we are always happy about new students joining our team. In 2012, we were already hosted three students which improved Rezero even further and for 2013 already two new student projects are set up.

So 2013 will be an exciting year for Rezero and you can stay tuned for some great news. Meanwhile, check out Rezero’s first professional acting job, starring in the Autonomous Christmas Lab movie.

We wish you all merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Team Rezero

Updates! After its first public presentation in 2010, Rezero has...

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:55:38 -0500

Updates!

After its first public presentation in 2010, Rezero has travelled the world. We feel very honored by all the invitations and all the support from everybody out there. We greatly appreciate it! Check out the Press section to learn about Rezero’s past and upcoming appearances at exhibitions, presentations and news.

A bigger part of our Team is finishing their Master studies next year. However, this doesn’t mean that we’ll not be playing with Rezero anymore. On the contrary, we are delighted to announce that Rezero will be back in the Lab in 2012 and with the support of new team members we’ll be working on the next version of Rezero.

We thank everybody to join us on this journey, stay tuned.

Classy Rezero defines new visual trends for tomorrow’s...

Sat, 06 Nov 2010 15:49:00 -0400

Classy Rezero defines new visual trends for tomorrow’s modern Ballbots

At the 2010 Swiss Innovation Forum a few days earlier, Rezero celebrated at last the first public demonstration in its stylish casing. “Better late than never” one’s temped to say, yes, we admit. However, the team around Rezero prefers to put it this way: Truly good things will manifest themselves some day, irrespective whether they are meant to be. And deep down in their hearts, Team Ballbot has always known: This moment is inevitably to come.

So today, an enthousiasticly happy Team Ballbot proudly presents this legendary video of Rezero how it always was meant to be:

The fastest and best looking Ballbot ever!
Built to entertain, to interact and to fascinate.

Rezero keeps rolling ... on and on ... and on!

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 19:02:00 -0400

Who could have imagined the tremendous interest, Team Ballbot has triggered with its idea to develop the small robot Rezero? The project officially ended a long time ago, everybody just seems wanting more of it. And, guess what, Rezero is totally ready for it! It just runs flawless, in fact so flawless that, born as a student project, it by now exceeds even the wildest expectations of lifetime and reliability. And with its new bumpers, not even hitting walls and floors is a problem anymore.

So after TV coverage all over the world and featuring literally hundreds of presentations like Swiss Innovation Forum and TEDx Zurich, Rezero will feature more big events this year, including Swisstech. Not to say that ETH Zurich is practically “rezeroed” these days. Obviously, there is quite a chance to get your personal Rezero meet n’ greet anytime soon. Don’t miss it!

Highlight for Team Ballbot definitely was a Rezero presentation in sunny California in early September. What a project final!
So what’s the future then? Well, we wont’t tell, but you will it yourselves. Because one thing’s for sure: The spirit of Rezero will live on. And maybe a whole lot more…

Rezero at its best! The latest video above shows lots of footage...

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:22:00 -0400

Rezero at its best!

The latest video above shows lots of footage from demonstrations of Rezero and has helped the little Ballbot to make it into the international nomination of this years Dyson Award. The scenes at the end presents Rezero doing what he always has been supposed to do: to entertain, to interact and to fascinate people.

It’s been a while since the last news on behalf of Rezero, yes. No wonder, Team Ballbot was very busy to keep up with the growing international interest in Rezero. In the mean time, the focus project Ballbot has reached its official end and was decorated with top marks. No reason worrying to never hear from Rezero again though, there is some pretty amazing media coverage about it coming up in newspapers and TV.

Of course, all this would never have been possible without the help of so many people. Many thanks to ETH Zurich, our Partners, Supporters, Coaches and Friends at this point for their incredible work and support. We hope they are all as thrilled about Rezero as we are.

Rezero hits the fair stages of Automatica Last week, Team...

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:52:00 -0400

Rezero hits the fair stages of Automatica

Last week, Team Ballbot presented Rezero at Automatica, the world largest’s robotic fair in Munich. And Rezero has been a ‘must see’ for thousands of people. ‘This robot is like a camp fire, I could stare at it for hours’, stated an enthusiastic visitor. And in fact he could have, using a single battery charge a day, Rezero should be rather green than blue.

Those four days of publicity have been a highlight for the whole Rezero crew and it even got better when they met Prof. Dr. Ralph Hollis, inventor of the first Ballbot ever. Only this much may be revealed: big times are coming up for Ballbots.

Team Ballbot masters virtual engineering! Team Ballbot has won...

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 05:38:00 -0400

Team Ballbot masters virtual engineering!

Team Ballbot has won the Siemens PLM-Award honoring the broad and efficient usage of the Siemens product lifecycle software package. After the presentation of Rezero, Team Ballbot was asked back on stage by Siemens representative Robert Montau. He emphasized the flexibility of the models and the linkage of concept drafts and CAD manufacturing assemblies and drawings. “The computation of the moments of inertia by NX 6 for the controller has impressed the expert committee”, he explained when handing over the prize money.

Every year, each focus project team is assessed by a group of experts of ETH and Siemens. They review the teams CAD Models, file exchange organization and version control with Siemens Unigraphics NX 6, Teamcenter and Teamcenter Community. Those are software tools for virtual and concurrent engineering which were really essential for the development of Rezero.

Photo by Thomas Baumgartner Rollout presentation: What a night...

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 05:33:00 -0400

Photo by Thomas Baumgartner

Rollout presentation: What a night for Rezero!

Last Friday, the spectacular presentation of this years focus projects happened in the main hall of ETH Zurich. Over five hundred people attended Rezero’s glamourous unveilment and questioned Team Ballbot during the exhibition afterwards.

We’ve got overwhelming feedback and experienced huge interest in our work. It really was the rewarding event that has motivated everybody during all phases of the project. The whole team is proud of Rezero and likes to thank all their sponsors, partners, supporters, coaches and families.

Rezero is taking shape After starring on its actual inside for a...

Sun, 30 May 2010 06:02:00 -0400

Rezero is taking shape

After starring on its actual inside for a long time, Rezero finally got its casing put on. Drafted by our industrial designers, it is made out of fibreglass featuring a section covered with elastic fabric. So Rezero is pretty overdressed for a ballbot now.

As the casing is not yet fully operational, the video shows just some teasing details. It will hopefully make you longing for more…

Rezero - Art in Motion! Rezero is finally back. After a...

Sat, 29 May 2010 12:13:00 -0400

Rezero - Art in Motion!

Rezero is finally back. After a catastrophic system failure, Team Ballbot managed to bring it back to life and stand a again. Just in time for the big Rollout.

If anybody was impressed by our previous videos, you’d better sit down now.
Dim the lights, turn up the volume and enjoy Rezero performing a show, exceeding your imagination.

May we introduce…Rezero! Finally, after one year of...

Fri, 21 May 2010 03:01:00 -0400

May we introduce…Rezero!

Finally, after one year of thinking outside the box and hard work, Team Ballbot is honored to announce the official presentation of Rezero.

May 28th, 2010, 4 p.m.
ETH Zurich, Hauptgebäude, Rämistrasse 101, Haupthalle
(official invitation)

Having started the project with just a handful of ideas, we are proud to introduce a first prototype of Rezero today, way beyond our initial imagination and any video you have seen so far.

We hope you being part of this magnificent moment.

Team Ballbot

And what is it gonna be used for? This is definitely the...

Tue, 18 May 2010 02:55:00 -0400

And what is it gonna be used for?

This is definitely the question most asked to Team Ballbot. And although it is hard to find a problem which Rezero solves best and we are rather interested in pushing the mere technical boundaries, it is an important question to pose.

Our industrial designers did exactly this and they came up with some really awesome ideas we would like to share. So please find the website’s new “future” section and expand your own perception of a Ballbot by inspiring visions.

Rezero makes the world go round! While some current Ballbot news...

Mon, 03 May 2010 17:37:00 -0400

Rezero makes the world go round!

While some current Ballbot news are actually rather outdated,
here‘s a really fresh one:

First footage of a spinning Ballbot ever. Rezero is now able to prevent the ball from slipping on the ground. And as we expect our new high-tech ball to arrive tomorrow, we can finally shift into second gear now.

As we are steadily approaching May 28th, Rezero‘s big roll-out, it‘s time now to keep things a little bit more quiet for the sake of the big bang then. So no more fancy videos. Devoted readers shouldn‘t worry though and expect some insight behind the scenes soon…

Team Ballbot mobs Rezero Believe it or not, Rezero is a very...

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 08:20:00 -0400

Team Ballbot mobs Rezero

Believe it or not, Rezero is a very cheeky Ballbot. With its new angular controller, it doesn’t know its boundaries any more. So we had to teach it a lesson for life. And acutally enjoyed it.

Notice that this video shows a Rezero not even close to its full capacities. Motor torques and velocities are still heavily limited.

And just in case: No Ballbot feelings or whatsoever were hurt during filming. Please do not mob at home.

All hands off - Rezero’s first time Eureka again! And no...

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 05:56:00 -0400

All hands off - Rezero’s first time

Eureka again! And no kidding this time, seriously. As we have apparently caught a lot of people with our spontaneous April Fool, we think it is time to show the real Rezero.

So, Ladies and Gentlemen, this is it, a short dance for Rezero but a whole musical for Team Ballbot. So not just Rezero is buzzing with excitement. Everybody has waited a long time for this.

Obviously somebody will have to tame wild Rezero before we can dare to unleash it.
We really are looking forward now to tweak some numbers and then to implement a lot of software. And, we admit, it doesn’t look like on those fancy pictures yet…

Rezero on April 1st Eureka! Rezero is balancing for the very...

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 11:36:00 -0400

Rezero on April 1st

Eureka! Rezero is balancing for the very first time! What a day and what a relief. The whole team Ballbot is completely happy and presents you the first footage of moving Rezero…enjoy!

Suit up, Rezero! Today, an elegantly dressed Team Ballbot has...

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:01:00 -0400

Suit up, Rezero!

Today, an elegantly dressed Team Ballbot has been invited to the University of St.Gallen in order to present Rezero to a group of Master Students of an Entrepreneurship-course. And despite slightly overdressed presenters, they definitely have picked up the Ballbot fascination.

The aim of this interdisciplinary side-project is them to put Rezero in an economic context by working out a business plan. We’d like to thank for the enthusiastic feedback and are excited to “slightly” expand our team once more. Everybody is looking forward to our next meeting and first estimations of market size and share.

Converting torque Precondition to stabilize Rezero is to know in...

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:39:00 -0400

Converting torque

Precondition to stabilize Rezero is to know in which direction it moves, in respect of the motions of the omniwheels. Thus, a conversion between the three motor-torques and the torque applied in “x- and y-direction” is needed.

This video shows the very first test of this torque conversion which has made some people really happy as it ends the ongoing discussion about whether those calculations were correct.

A first glance on Rezero Watch a short demonstration video...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:08:00 -0500

A first glance on Rezero

Watch a short demonstration video showing the high-friction coating of the omniwheels. Yes, Rezero is obviously still hand-driven, but Team Ballbot is about to change that. Entirely.

Trust us.

First images of Rezero’s AS-Prototype. Enough of fancy...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:01:00 -0500

First images of Rezero’s AS-Prototype.

Enough of fancy concept arts and global illuminated renderings of imaginary Rezeros.
After a busy developing and assembling phase, Team Ballbot may finally announce pictures and videos to be the predominant future media of Rezero.

So everything is working just fine, take a look at the pictures and convince yourself.