Patent attributes
A spherical shaped robot with a drive mechanism and a weight drive mechanism is provided. If a distance from the robot to an object is less than a predetermined value, the robot executes a pivot turn mode. In the pivot turn mode, the robot controls the drive mechanism to stop linear movements of the robot, controls the weight drive mechanism to tilt the weight to a first side representing one of the right hand side and left hand side of the robot, controls the drive mechanism to cause a forward movement of the robot with the weight tilted to the first side, controls the drive mechanism to stop the forward movement of the robot, controls the weight drive mechanism to tilt the weight to a second side different from the first side, and controls the drive mechanism to cause a backward movement of the robot with the weight tilted to the second side.