Robotic 'ball' can scuttle, spin and roll away from kids
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Plenty of parents feel guilty when they are just too tired to play with their enthusiastic children.
But one father has created a robot to take over when he needs to put his feet up.
Kare Halvorsen, 41, has made a rolling robot that looks like a futuristic football when it is folded up, to keep his three-year old son, Torbjorn, occupied for hours.
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Press play: Kare Halvorsen created a rolling robot that looks like a futuristic football when it is folded up to keep his three-year old son, Torbjorn (pictured) occupied for hours
SPHERICAL ROBOTS
MorpHex is not the only spherical robot.
Nasa's Tumbleweed is a prototype developed by its Jet Propulsion laboratory (JLR) which is imagined as a new way of exploring planets.
A 'Rotundus groundbot' robot, originally developed by Esa, has two cameras protruding from it and is now sold as a commercial surveillance solution.
The ball has a fixed axis and also has built in sensors, microphones and speakers. It can travel on sand, snow and mud because of its rugged surface.
MorpHex is a mobile ball robot that is really a hexapod - with six legs.
When its legs come together the robot forms a sphere that can roll.
The Norwegian engineer came up with the idea of building his own robots after his son was given a Japanese toy as a present just after he was born and he thought: 'I can do better than that'.
His latest invention is a rolling, spider-like robot that is programmed to keep just ahead of his son as he chases it around.
MorpHex is a hexapod robot that travels along as a ball. When its legs come together the robot forms a sphere that can roll, but it can also scuttle along.
When curled up as a sphere, the robot can roll fast down hills but can unfurl so that it has six legs upon which to scuttle slowly and delicately along.
The top of the sphere can open up, which gives the robot the appearance of a lotus flower.
Roll with it:The robot travels fastest as a fully-formed sphere, but can use its feet to propel itself along fairly quickly on a flat surface, and scuttle slowly too
All set to scuttle: MorpHex is hexapod as well as a robot that travels along as a ball. When its legs come together the robot forms a sphere which can roll, but it can also scuttle delicately along, as pictured here
This top part can also be used as more legs so that when both sets are extended, they can be used to propel the robots swiftly along on its side on a flat surface.
The semi-spherical robot can be steered like this and can also be programmed to evade the clutches of a person chasing it.
Mr Halvorsen, who works as a consultant engineer for Rogaland county council in western Norway, said building robots is his passion and as far as he knows the ball-shaped MorpHex rolling robot he has made is unique.
'My son is my biggest fan and making the robots for him to play with is a big motivation,' he said.
'He really loves them. Every day he wants one of them unpacked so that he can play with it. His favourite is the one I call A-pod because it looks like an ant.'
Blooming marvellous: Here the robot is fully unfurled and looks a little like a lotus flower. Its two separate halves can move independently, which enables the robot to be steered as well as swivel when stationary (pictured)
Like a rolling stone: The robot has a complex mechanism beneath its white shell, which means it can tuck its legs into a sphere (pictured left) and use them to propel itself along (right) and unfurl into a six-legged robot
In full bloom: The top of the sphere can open up, which gives the robot the appearance of a lotus flower (pictured)
While he has received praise for his innovative creations, Mr Halvorsen said: 'I only do it for hobby. I just set myself a challenge and then try to rise to it.
'As far as I know I don't think anyone's made robots like this so it has unique challenges for me as an engineer.
'It's the making of it that interests me, although I guess somebody will eventually find an application that it will be useful for.'
While his son plays with the original robots, versions have been reproduced and are already being sold in the U.S.
The chase is on: The Norwegian engineer came up with the idea of building his own robots after his son was given a Japanese toy as a present just after he was born and he thought: 'I can do better than that'. Here the robot rolls away with a child in pursuit
Creeping carefully: While he has received praise for his innovative creations, Mr Halvorsen said: 'I only do it for hobby. I just set myself a challenge and then try to rise to it.' Here, the robot moves along on its six legs
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