Tightrope walking is not a bad thing – it takes years to master (even with a balance rod) – but it is a lot of hard work. [James Bruton]. Clearly, the solution is only a matter of applying some electronically-controlled balancing technology, and [James] People just for work. Carrying a cross-resemblance between a prop from Ghostbusters and a medieval torture device, this weighty balancing cheat device works almost kind of!
On a slightly more serious note, bipolar balance is a complex problem to solve. You have multiple limbs that can move in different ways independently, as well as the upper body helps to move around the center of gravity. So it’s no surprise that a simple torque response device stuck to the torso doesn’t help much, but it’s definitely fun to try. The bottom line is that our bodies are quite heavy, and the amount of energy needed to fix the plane of interest is difficult to make unless the reaction wheel is really heavy, and that extra mass doesn’t help. Overall balance problem. We think the overall idea is correct, only the flop around all these extra limbs makes this simple sensation and compensation strategy partially effective.
Stabilizing small robots is probably a bit easier than humans, such as this gyroscopically-stable montage, but sometimes you don’t even need a gyroscope, because you can control the driving wheel directly.