28" Hexapod-Hybrid Tank with 1/4 Scale Servos

LOL, soon. :slight_smile:

Here you go. I shot some video with my digital camera but it’s terrible quality, even after I enhanced it so it wasn’t so dark.

I have all the standoff braces off the legs except the front right so there is alot of sideways flex in the legs, except the front right. :slight_smile: I’m changing them over to lighter ones but I’m waiting on my Carbon Fiber tubes to arrive. But if you want to see it anyways, here it is.

I still have to tinker with the programming a bit. The offsets aren’t perfect and the middles legs don’t work when I try to crab walk? But it moves forward, turns right/left, attacks, flies and crouches fine. It’s alot sturdier with the braces in the legs, as you could imagine.

I have about 6 videos but it takes so long for Photobucket to upload them.

Nothing like video of a hexapod that’s twice as big as a legal-sized filing cabinet. :wink:

Here is the first video: At the end you can see it’s confused when I try to get it to crab walk. Silly hexapod.

i138.photobucket.com/albums/q253/gfisher2002/robots/th_HEHexWalking001-1.jpg

The second:Spin and attack mode. With the braces in the legs it turns itself around almost violently. It’s alot slower with the flex in the legs.

i138.photobucket.com/albums/q253/gfisher2002/robots/th_HEHexWalking004-1.jpg

And the third: Flying and then it gets a bit confused when I ask it to crouch. lol

i138.photobucket.com/albums/q253/gfisher2002/robots/th_HEHexWalking006-1.jpg

Not bad :open_mouth:

Very nice work! I am quite impressed with all you have done with this huge hexapod. :slight_smile: I wish I had such mechanical and fabrication skills. One of these days we will see what I can manage with Walk 'N Roll. I figure all the side trips I am taking, like into the biped world, are just allowing me to collect brackets for Walk 'N Roll. :smiley:

8-Dale

very nice! but I’m sure you could make it walk faster no? 8) awesme

That was the default speed (rather slow). It goes alot faster but works better with the braces in the legs. It just too hard to position my camera on the desk, press the button without moving it and pick up t e controller at the same time. LOL

I’ll get someone else to film it when I get the standoffs back on the legs.

ok cool LOl :laughing:

BTW, what kind of aluminum do you use? They look strong.

:open_mouth: realy thick too, but thinks to all the holes, itsw lighter

I use mostly 1/8" 6061 Aluminum.

Ahh, thats pretty tough stuff!

So when is the next upgrade due?

We want to start badgering you for video of that, now. :stuck_out_tongue:

i am impressed , i didn’t think it would be so bit. i still would like to see it walk faster :laughing:

I think it is 6060 or something like that.

6061

I got my Carbon yesterday but didn’t know it. :slight_smile: So I have the new cross members installed and they make a huge difference. There is hardly any flex in the legs now. They are rock solid.

I was going to finish up the wiring and get some good video of it but our neighbors basement flooded today. I spent most of the afternoon and evening helping them move their stuff and pump it out.

I’m, working on the wiring now and if I get done soon, I’ll shoot a faster video for you. It is actually very quick.

I’m really happy with the results of this. I was worried the whole time that it just wouldn’t work or that I overlooked something. But it has alot of power and with programming aimed specifically for it, I think it would be very impressive. There seems to be a few things out of place when it tries to crab walk and walk backwards. It just sits there and wiggles around. Like it’s confused. But forward and rotating works great. Time to add the tracks once I get the walking bugs worked out… :slight_smile:

Its most likely “confused” becuase the ofset values are wrong (if thats what their called). Once you fix that in the programming the servos should move accordingly to where they should.

I got the offsets working now. When all the servos are centered anyways. I haven’t changed any max or min values though.

I just walked him through the living room and across the linoleum. LOL it was hilarious. It looked like the first time Bambi walked on ice. LOL Everything was fine until I lowered the chassis to a shorter stance. Apparently the program staggers the Tibias out about 20 deg and the feet just slipped outwards on every step as the servos fought to keep them pulled in. It was Hilarious.

I added rubber molded feet to the bottom of the legs earlier, which are good on carpet but suck on smooth surfaces. So I glued little 3/4" circles onto the bottom of the rubber feet from 200 grit sandpaper. Now it grabs the lino like nothing and still works great on the carpet. I have to tell you. Absolutely nothing sounds better than a heavy hexapod trotting across the floor. Once on the lino, it sounded like 2 horses slowly trotting across pavement. Clu-clunck, Clu-clunk. It sounds AWESOME. :slight_smile: I love it.

The high stance and the low stances also stagger the tibias outward. It’s like it’s not compensating enough for the change in geometry. I’m pretty sure I changed all the dimensions for my legs properly but I’ll go back and double check.

Sandpaper on the feet sounds good. If you had hardwood it wouldnt be that bad to restore it. Have the hex sand it down good and add a few coats of oil :smiley:

LOL :smiley: