The Gimball is a small, ultralight flying spheroid which mimics the behaviour of insects as it flies around bumping into things. The goal of the robot was to allow it to fly within "extremely chaotic environments without the need for fragile sensors."
The inner frame comprises everything a flying robot needs to stabilize in flight: a coaxial motor, two control surfaces, the battery, an IMU and control electronics. In case of collision, GimBall's spherical protective frame prevents obstacles from touching the inner frame and can passively rotate thanks to a gimbal system (hence the name). This way, the contact force does not affect the orientation of the inner frame, whose center of mass is also carefully centered. This allows the inner frame to always stay upright, and maintain the robot in stable flight.
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