CMU's BallBot - Scientific Advancement or Just-Another-Robot?

On Friday CMU announced via press relase the creation of the "Ballbot" (original, I know). It's a robot that dynamically balances on one steel ball. It was picked up by several robot websites and was also featured on RocketBoom.

That's all fine and good, until someone cries "fowl!"

I just want to note that they bought their own pre-assembled IMU. That takes nearly all of the challenge out of this project.

Theo goes on to say:

Don't believe me? Take a look at the papers. The entire control system is simple LQR. They've added some PI control to correct for some frictional effects, and both coefficients were tuned experimentally.

Translation: It's not that hard. A PI controller takes about four lines of code, and experimental tuning involves grunt work, not real science. Here is a link to the IMU they use.

While I'm not sure if I'd be as harsh as Theo is with them, I definitely don't think it was worth all the hype or the press release. Come on CMU, show a little humility!

Update: Theo, made some good comments below.

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CMU's BallBot - Scientific Advancement or Just-Another-Robot?

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