"Balancing Cube" robot balances well enough – but is not a cube

What qualifies as a robot, exactly? This thing appears to be a sort of polyhedron that stands on its tiptoes. Sure, it’s impressive — but “robot?” But that’s neither here nor there. This project, called the “Balancing Cube,” is an experiment in distributed computing, as each of the counterbalancing “modules” is self-contained in its movements, though it has access to the others’ data. The sum of all of the modules’ movements keeps the cube balanced, even with a gentle push. Sure, it’s no BigDog, but it doesn’t buzz like a hornet out of hell, either. (Aw, LittleDog…)

[via IEEE Spectrum and Technabob]