this is a 'revolution' in bearings

brilliant! I must try to 3D print it.

It's a beautiful thing to see such an old technology be improved upon by such a simple change.

I reckon less noisy (computer) fans can be designed at higher rpm for starters.
Bio mimicry of whale fins deliver more efficient fan blades, now this! Innovation never stops!

I'm not sold yet. This might work for very light loads but that little indent will be like a speed bump under heavy loads and may pound the bearing to failure.

Great…one step closer to perpetual motion…it's gonna happen!

You're confusing plain ball bearings with caged roller bearings. One of the best claimants to inventing the latter is John Harrison, in the late Eighteenth Century as part of his work on accurate clocks.

Bob - they note in the top video at 2:15 (https://youtu.be/wN0vhXGVHnI?t=2m15s) that there is clearance between the decelerating/accelerating ball and the inner race. This simply drops the load of the affected ball and places it on to the two surrounding balls. Should be pretty smooth.

I want those in my bike! I'm fully aware that the major resistance on that bike is generated by the weight and drag of my fat arse but still. If all bearings on that bike rolled like this I'm sure it would be a better ride.

To assemble a normal ball bearing traditionally is done by feeding the balls in between the races with the inner race eccentric to the outer race, allowing for a larger gap. Once all the balls are in place, the cage is fitted to space the balls evenly, which also brings the two races back to a concentric state. So, with this ball bearing, how do they assemble it? It looks like they have more than a normal number of balls in the bearing race.