Wow, watching that video is wild. It's the closest I've ever found myself to thinking, well that's just magic. The way it responds to being pushed around, it's almost like experiencing magnetism for the first time, only now it's as if it's a whole new force. It almost seems like it's alive, actively maintaining its equilibrium and resisting changes from its environment. Throw a literal tomato on it and it just adapts, not unlike the way our bodies do to changing loads.
I can't wait until smaller mass-produced versions are sold on Amazon for $50, however many years from now that is! I would just love to play with something like this.
It will take a bit more engineering than some optimistic sign-flipping to bring it down to $50 retail (~$10 BOM).
> In my case, the BOM was close to €2500, so be prepared for that.
EDIT: someone pointed out that there are actually some designs available on AliExpress, e.g. https://a.aliexpress.com/_EzMRNIv €250 for one axis (edge) and €500 for a 3-axis (single point).
I think what it needs is simple direct neural network controller quickly trained and tested for cheap motors and high tolerances so it can sort of work if done cheaply.
Recently there was a post here about researchers training NN to fly a chepish very small drone. No messing with PID adjustment.
A similar design (although it balances on the reaction wheel rather than corner after the initial startup jump) has been made for less than 1000 euros and open-sourced:
I can't wait until smaller mass-produced versions are sold on Amazon for $50, however many years from now that is! I would just love to play with something like this.