I just recieved my Spring 2007 issue of Robot magazine, and the “CrustCrawler” 3DOF hexapod is on the cover. It’s obviously very similar to the Lynxmotion round hexapods, but I don’t know which came first, so I won’t go there.
What’s interesting is that in a smaller font on the side of the cover is the text “Lynxmotion BH3-R.” It’s not exactly a shootout per se, but both reviews are in there. I don’t want to get into all the details, and both reviews are positive (naturally), but there is no doubt that the BH3-R review is much stronger. The comments about the SSC-32, SES and PowerPod are overwhelmingly, glowingly positive, which is not really a suprise.
I’m not trying to bash the CrustCrawler, but I do know who’s getting my money…
I will go there. We were the first to make the round hexapods! We were the first to make servo powered robot arms. We were the first to make the arms with wrist rotate. We were alway honest about the true lifting capability of servo based arms as well. All of their products followed ours. They originally modeled their website after ours, and continue to model their printed ads after ours. They bashed our use of Lexan / plastics from the beginning. Funny that they are now selling the Bioloid which is all plastic! So I guess plastics are ok to use now…
Some people think they can make their products appear better by bashing a competitors. We have ignored this stuff, and just looked the other way for a long time. I make better products from the pure love of the hobby.
The problem with their round hexapod is they use an indirect drive for the legs. This is acceptable for an inline 2 DOF hexapod, as there is some friction in the legs when walking, but it’s always along the same plane. But in a round hexapod the friction is happening in different places on different legs during the walking process. The mechanical mismatch and their unsophisticated walking code makes for an unruly spastic writhing mess. Our 3DOF hexapods walk with finesse powered by intelligent mechanical design, and ingenious programming. The legs don’t fight each other when moving, and are a real pleasure to watch in motion. Just my opinion based on the facts.
Disclaimer: I don’t possess any Crustcrawler products or Lynxmotion SES brackets. I have also known Jim for years, including before he founded the best hobby robot company on the internet.
I thought I was the only person who noticed that CC’s robots seemed rather shaky compared to Jim’s products. (Compare the videos, there are some where it’s really bad looking)
Look at CC’s part list for thier 3DOF legged robots. They list two weak servos and one strong one. Lynxmotion’s 3DOF bots have three strong servos.
Sure, the raised legs have virtually no load on two of the three servos, but the legs which are supporting the bot need strong servos to overcome the inertia of the body. This situation would presumably get a lot worse when the robot is expected to climb a slope.
CC’s legs also have some pretty thin looking structural members. The twisting there has got to be significant.
Other than noting that CC’s web site seems to spend an unreasonable amount of space telling us what they don’t use in thier robots I don’t have any way to evaluate them as people.
Oddly enough CC’s “NO” list has been getting shorter as they have turned distributing other company’s robots into a good part of thier business.)
Naturally you should take what I have stated and test it to reach your own conclusions as I am biased and I don’t have direct physical evidence to support the statments I have made.
The way i see it is if you buy a CC thats all u,ll ever have ,u might outfit it better or build more programs for it but because thats all you can do
(cant see where you could make it do more than walk)
Jim sells “Dreams”
Ok, of course everyone is going to love lynxmotion on the lynxmotion forums. But to be honest, the crust crawler robots are very cool looking in anodized aluminum but I think they are way over priced for the robot you are getting.
Huh? No, we love Lynxmotion and participate in their forums because they are awesome. Don’t put the chicken before the egg, bro.
For this reason Jim should just start laser cutting and selling optional aluminum hexapod chassis’s and shut up the plastic haters once and for all. I would pay extra for a Lynxmotion aluminum chassis.
Haha. I was trying to keep my comments tame because I wasn’t sure how you guys would take it…
However, it NOW appears that Jim is ok with CrumCrawler bashing…
Frankly, my comments are based on personal dealings with the people behind CrapCrawler.
I’ve never actually bought any of their products - and don’t intend to…
As far as I know - they could be great…?
Also, I think the prices are comparable to Lynxmotions - However, I don’t think you get the same versatility from their robots as you would from Jim’s…
Of course, building the equivalent robot (sold here in plastic) in all anodized aluminum (like creepycrawlers) may substantially increase the prices here as well…
So its all relative…
And I’m not one to jump on a bandwagon. If I don’t like something about Jim’s products, or designs - I will tell him.
And I’m sure he would be ok with that. Of course my comments would be businesslike.
Which brings me to a small question I have (one I’ve wondered about for years) for you all:
Should one base their purchases on the Quality of a product? Or the People behind the product…
For instance: For some reason I have a dislike for Mark Tilden. Should I not buy the Wow Wee robots hes designed because of it? Even if I like the robots?
I thought the Crust Crawler was an interesting platform until I watched the videos on their site. It’s hard to call what those robots do “walking”. Lumbering, lurching, flailing – those are better descriptions. Watch how the legs jerk as they’re raised off the floor: there is tension on them because the joints don’t track properly as the robot moves forward.
Also, while the body is okay, the legs look incredibly cheesy.
Now I understand Jim’s point. They should worry about selling robots based on their merit rather than trying to criticize a competitor.
It reminds me of a quote I once read by Ted Nugent, where he describes Jimmy Page as something like “totally over-rated, a real fumble-fingers!” This from the creative genius behind Cat Scratch Fever?
The CH3-R is my Stairway to Heaven… they can keep their superior Crust Scratch Fever.
I am generally not a biased opinioned individual, but from watching that video and from my experience with robotics it looks like that was some type of erector set project slapped together.
I’m not necessarily promoting any bashing, and I try to always be positive. However I don’t monitor and control the content of this forum to an extreme level. Matter of fact in the year and a half the forum has been in place, I have removed only a few posts due to behaviour or opinions that are out of control or unreasonable. If a company is behaving in a way that people want to talk about it here, including my company, then have at it.
In the 14 or so years I have been involved in hobby robotics. I have always strived to be positive, and helpful to my customer. (sometimes I do get a bit grouchy on the phone, um, sorry…) I have also tried to have good relationships with other robotics companies. I have made many many friends over the years, and some of them are my competitors! However this company has made no secret of their hatred of me, my products, and my company. And for no good reason! I have never had any dealings with them at all. Like I said before, I have always tried to look the other way and ignore this stupidity, but enough is enough. So I decided to chime in with some comments. It may not be very professional, I apologize if any were offended.
As an engineer who specializes in support structures for public art installation I would just like to say that if a design looks wrong then it is always wrong, the nomad legs are definitely wrong, and that’s without even doing any calcs.
p.s. nice to see the use of the word spastic used in the threads, it is considered too non pc to be used in the UK.
, but I agree that Lynxmotion has great products and great people.
So I guess plastics are ok to use now…
