When I saw Zentas creation called Phoenix I knew I just had to offer a kit like it. Zenta graciously allowed me to craft a robot based on his design! He even provided the dimensions for the body and leg pieces. I added a little Lynxmotion to the creature, but the dims are the same. Now this robot is just a prototype made from Lexan. I am getting quotes on the aluminum parts to make this into a cool kit. I am kicking around the idea of doing anodized colors like red, blue, green, or purple. 8)
Now Zentas generosity didn’t stop at giving me the drawings for his bot. He is also giving us the spreadsheet that he used to generate the sequences.
I am very happy to be able to make this kit a reality for our customers. I want to make a point to thank the kind and generous people like Zenta who pour their heart into their hobby and don’t stop there, they help others to achieve what they have. Thank you Zenta!
Yes, good look to it. However the Tibia is a single plate instead of a ‘C’ member (yoke) as in other SES robots? How is that working? Obviously you’ve got it under control!
Yeah, RED should go over good!
We’ll need a way to generate Atom code from the sequences. Probably CSV files already, but I haven’t figured out how to** IMPORT CSV** data into SIM yet. I believe I saw some early sequences.
Any idea when the kit will be out, and a price range? When I turn 18 in nov, I’ll have to shred my credit card as soon as possible so I don’t get into debt T_T Lynxmotion + Sparkfun = major debt T_T Soo many goodies!
I look forward to this kit and learning more about this spreadsheet business.
I mounted the tibia leg part on the opposite side of the tibia servo. The intention was to get the tibia part as close to the femur leg part (and the center of the ballbearings in the tibia servo) as possible. I think this is a way to reduce the “twisting load?” on the servos.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to see some cool videos
She indeed Shes very beautiful. Jim, make sure to take some exotic poses of 'er
Zenta, I forgot, did you use a different plastic than lexan? The Lynxmotion version looks a little shiny while yours has a very nice black finish to it.
I’m not sure what kind of plastic material I used, but I will ask the people in the store next time. But the material is a bit difficult to cut because it has a sad tendency to melt caused by the friction of the sawblade.
The main reason for selecting this material was the skintexture… 8)
The leg design provides a very slender look. It looks awesome, kind of reminds me of a black widow spider, infact you could all it the Lynxmotion “Black Widow” hex
The material Zenta used is Expanded PVC. Trade names for this are Sintra or Verscell. The material is half the weight of an equal thickness of Lexan. So it’s common to use 6mm PVC for bots which is roughly the same weight as our 3mm Lexan. To take it one step further 1.5mm thick aluminum is roughly the same weight as 3mm Lexan or 6mm PVC. Our Phoenix will have 1.5mm aluminum body parts (torso) with 3mm aluminum femur and tibia. The later will probably weigh in a little heavier then Zentas original.
Note this prototype is just that a prototype. It will never walk. The femur and tibia made from 3mm Lexan is way to flexible. When I get the parts made from aluminum it will be more than strong enough to walk.
Well this robot will never be able to carry the same payload and the SES based hexapods. Furthermore, the Phoenix style hexapod has more range in its joints. So it’s a design tradeoff between dexterity and coolness vs. utility.
Ah you have a good eye for detail. The coxa made from the ASB-04’s is a little different. The tibia can mount to the front or the back of the servo, but in this case it was closer to mount it to the rear. I am still playing around with the idea of mounting the femur plate on the underside of the aluminum servo horn to reduce flex as well. It would require a bit more machining for countersinking the screws.
What are you talking about? I don’t see any differences except the material used and the part that connects the leg to body is uglier on the lynxmotion version (no offense).
They look cute together! Think you might be able to adapt the CH3-R leg design onto the pheonix?
The Phoenix is smaller then the CH3-R (by what %?); and the body has the appearance of being longer. Are the legs still equally angled about a circle and able to use the same BASIC Atom control program (with leg length changes, of course)?
It has almost an “inline” quality about it. Strangely, my oldest son looked at the pix of the CH3-R and something like the BH3 and was more interested in the BH3, thinking it was more “bug like”. But after seeing a CH3-R video, he was more then pleased with its moves.
It doesn’t walk yet? I wondered about that after studying the tibia.
Think of this as a clay model. It’s only purpose is to get a feel for the look you are going for. I may still tweak some lines, but the overal size and dimensions will remain as they are.
If you are only interested in a comparison of the torso, the CH3-R is 11.75" where the Phoenix is 6.0" x 7.5" oval shaped. So I dunno, looks like the Phoenix is about 51% to 64% of the CH3-R size. However the legs are longer on the Phoenix, so it’s hard to say exactly…
The new “look” DOES give you the potential of a whole new family!
OK, a prototype. I guess I do things the other way 'round (EE). I go for functionality before the esthetics. I just assumed that it was a working model! But after going to all the trouble mounting servos and an SSC32 (didn’t see a ‘Bot controller board or batteries, view?), I’d be itchin’ to make it walk!
Those are useful numbers. However the legs on the CH3-R appear to be longer? The femur, anyway; the tibia on the Phoenix looks like it could be longer; but it’s hard to say.
I would worry about the “swing” or travel of the coax (Hip horz) servo. In a coordinated move there would be less of a problem, and I suppose you could scale or limit the travel as needed anyway.
Zenta graciously allowed me to craft a robot based on his design! He even provided the dimensions for the body and leg pieces. I added a little Lynxmotion to the creature, but the dims are the same. Now this robot is just a prototype made from Lexan. I am getting quotes on the aluminum parts to make this into a cool kit. I am kicking around the idea of doing anodized colors like red, blue, green, or purple. 8)
Shes very beautiful. Jim, make sure to take some exotic poses of 'er 
The femur and tibia made from 3mm Lexan is way to flexible. When I get the parts made from aluminum it will be more than strong enough to walk.
