This sculpture is actually a robotic cube capable of keeping its balance by itself with an automatic stabilization mechanism to shift the center of gravity.
The modules sway and can maintain the balanced position.
Even more incredibly, the structure can be pushed and still not fall. Of course, you don't have to give it a great big shove :-)
The two creators, Raffaello D'Andrea and Sebastian Trimpe (ETH Zurich), were inspired by performances by acrobats in the Cirque du Soleil.
Raffaello D'Andrea has sparked off spectacular projects like the
robotic chair, the army of
Kiva factory robots and a
table that looks for humans.
The robotic cube (see the video demonstration below) is provided with a computer, motor, battery and sensors (accelerometers and gyros).
See the full details on
IEEE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbT_XoSIlEo