Hey everyone!
I'm quite new to he scene. I am basically somewhat qualified in AI concepts and Programming, yet I totally lack any engineering skills. Would like to learn them en passant though.
So, what I am trying to build is a "true scale" human torso (well, basically a Spine, a Rib Cage [for Style reasons], a Head (cams and speaker), and sooner or later two arms (for budget reasons I'd like to add the arms later on, I'll just need to prepare the other parts so they can be added)).
The spine should blend into some kind of "walking" mechanism. I have been thinking about snake-like movement patterns, but that loos quite complicated and I gues it does not really work with "high" weights, given I dont want to add a combustion engine. Therefore I think a hexapod base would be quite reasonable, since I dont really feel qualified for dealing with balance issues which would come with a two legged robot.
As a counterweight to the torso and as actual place for an at least mediocre embedded machine, I'd add a "Spider Abdoment" on the "tail" side of the hexapod.
So, thats the plan. My problems:
(1) How do I plan something like this? In a technical way I mean? I dont really understand, how metal parts are joined with each other,or how servos are "implemented". I thought about modeling the whole thing in a 3d program first (I'm experienced in Blender, but guess I should use something that can give me the volume of my objects), in order to find out, what the total weight would be, depending on (2).
(2) Which materials to use? For various reasons (Power supply, cash, servos, ...) I would like it to be at least somewhat "lightweight". The spine probably needs to be quite solid. Aluminuim (dont like that unhealthy stuff though!)? Even steel? But steel is not only expensive but also quite complicated to process, right? the hexapod base and legs are probably the most crucial part when it comes to weight. they gotta support torso and the machine, and themselves :D. So, ... Aluminum? Wood? Gotta endure the weight though.
(3) and this is probably the combination of scale and material choices: The Servos. I am not really confident about my estimation, but I guess about 100-150 kg are about realistic? For the whole construction I mean, so a single leg would be about... 4-6 kg maybe? Can I even do this with regular servos within reasonable budget limits?
So yea, as you see, I dont have too much of a clue, especially I try to find out if 1. all this is realistic, 2. how to start planning. Your help would be much appreciated!
(feel free to tell me, that I am delusional, I will probably listen to your opinions, if you ave any advice about shrinking all this down in one way or the other, or splitting it into moduar steps. Basicallyone of the only requirements is the size(!) I simply like big things.)
