If you were on a boat, trying to play pool, you would imagine that the balls would all go rolling to one side of the table with each passing wave.
But the first self-leveling pool table at sea keeps all the balls level as the ship heaves up and down all around it.
The table, available on the Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas, uses a gyroscope to stay steady despite the ship’s undulation.
Gyroscopes are known for their ability to keep a fixed orientation no matter what motion is occurring to the platform on which it is mounted. They are often used where magnetic compasses do not work, such as in the Hubble telescope, to stabilize flying objects such as radio-controlled helicopters and for precision, to ensure that rockets and missiles reach their target.
Related on SmartPlanet:
- Navigate a computer … with your eyeballs
- Goodbye, remote. Hello, TV you can talk to.
- Battery runs on paper, releases water as byproduct
- Turn any surface into a touchscreen
- New space telescope is biggest yet, with ‘dish’ 30 times Earth’s diameter
- ‘Safe’ playgrounds could be stunting emotional development, studies say
via: CNET
