Last month, Clive Thompson wrote in the New York Times about the Gömböc, which
leans off to one side, rocks to and fro as if gathering strength and then, presto, tips itself back into a “standing†position as if by magic. It doesn’t have a hidden counterweight inside that helps it perform this trick, like an inflatable punching-bag doll that uses ballast to bob upright after you whack it. No, the Gomboc is something new: the world’s first self-righting object.
Pretty amazing. Evidently there’s some rather complicated math involved in the Gomboc. Unfortunately though, if you’re interested in owning your own Gömböc, they’re a little expensive. Serial number 17, for instance, is apparently priced at 12, 665 Euros (this price includes a certificate, etc.). So, unless you really want one, you might need to content yourself with an inferior ballast-weighted bag-doll object such as a Weeble or Okiagari-koboshi, both of which, sadly, might just stand on their heads.
Photo credit: Megandavid