I've spent quite a bit of time on the mechanical design on this robot, maybe more then was strictly necessary since I used this opportunity to learn SolidWorks, and since all the parts are laser cut, absolutely everything must be modeled.
All the body pieces are laser-cut, excluding the obvious bolts, threaded rods, and electrical parts.
The pictures you see here are from the assembly of the 3rd prototype and so far I'm pleased with how it’s turned out. I've successfully driven it around on my coffee table, but very little electrical work has been done on it yet other then a closed-loop test script.
I’m planning to publishing the plans open-source style as soon as I’m happy with everything. there’s also the possibility of a kit in the works.
Videos and more details soon, so stay tuned here and on 4volt.com/blog.
Grip Yah the plastic is pretty slipery, expecially on a table. What you see is the rubber dip that is made for dipping tool handles in, it works very well and is fairly inexpensive especailly for such a small amount.
It could be narrowed a few It could be narrowed a few inches, maybe more with a small redesign. In the 4th version will combine the two leg sections to be closer together, like in the animation.
Awesome!Can´t wait ti see Awesome! Can´t wait ti see it moving!!! I would love to know more about your laser cutter, did you buy it? or did you make it yourself? keep it up
It moves beautifully, as expected. Too bad about the whining of the servo gears. If I knew a good cheap solution for that, I’d be a rich toymaker.
I noticed some oscillation going on in the long threaded axle rods. Some of that springy action seems to be eating up the efficiency of the legs. Also makes the creature stand less stable on the ground. A plate at the end of the rods, connecting the two, would probable help stiffening the construction.
The two big flaws in the design so far I think are that the center of gravity is two high, and there’s not enough legs to get smooth motion.
The rods are actually pretty solid in general, on that one shot that’s looking at the legs i’m holding it by hand so it looks a little springy like you said. Most of the beach walkers that Jansen desiged seem pretty flexable and walk well, but they also have many more legs.
With the few legs I have, they seem to pogo into the ground while walking and bounce the front end up. I think with more legs on the ground that would be minimized.
The plastic is somewhat brittle, if you dropped or stepped on it it would probably shatter. But, it’s tipped over many times and I haven’t broken any parts in this build or any of my tests on various surfaces.
The reason I was running it on a smooth surface is on carpet the legs tend to get caught in the fibers. Also the first table was covered in random paint so I threw a cloth backdrop over the top.
If you are interested in buying just a plastic set, I’m selling copies of this version for $35 (USD), for about 100 plastic peices. Mostly I’m trying to fund my hobbies, not really trying to make any money. Check out my site for more on that.
I’ll be sure to write up somthing in components about that rubber dip, it’s pretty handy.
nice Lots of spacers and extra nuts I notice. Not just to fill up a "missing" layer in the cake, but also to seperate two parts that would otherwise rub against each other.
