I have seen a few pictures of the Lynx 209 biped and I am really interested in building one. I’ve been into electronics since I was four years old and I have been programming various microcontrollers for about 5 years now. I’m 16 and a senior in high school hoping to be an electrical engineer.
Now, back to the 209…as I said, I’m very interested in building one of these bipeds. However, I cannot find any plans or even a parts list anywhere in the forums or on the main site. All I have found are some pictures and a listing for the torso. Maybe I just haven’t looked hard enough, but I think I did. Has anyone built one of these or something similar and can share their construction ideas/guides with me? I plan on ordering most of the parts from the “servo erector set”. I work at the local hobby shop and I get a big discount on servos, so I will be buying those there.
I chose the 209 over the BRAT because I wanted something that I wouldn’t want to upgrade later. The BRAT is a great starter platform from what I hear, but I want something more advnaced without spending a $1000+ (like the robonova) I really like the design and it poses a programming challenge (which I throughly enjoy!) for those nights without much homework…
If it ends up being over $500 to $600 dollars I may reconsider however (including my discounted servos…I get like a 40% discount from what I know)
I could not find any assembly guides so your best bet it to print out a picture of the 209 and use that as a guide takeing note of the type of bracket used and its orientation. To help, you could use the scout assembly guide to construct the legs from the angle up to the hip location only.
No, the Scout has a different configuration where the legs connect to the torso/body. The legs are near identical except 3 or 4 brackets joining the legs to the 209 body.
I found out my discount on servos…I get the HS-5645’s at $41 each, making the total cost for 12 $530 (w/tax). That’s waaaaayyyy over what I thought it would be…After that I still have to buy the robot kit and the servo controller hardware/software…that totals about $850 (w/tax) for everything including electronics. Thats a bit over my budget…maybe if I wait for my birthday and christmas my parents will be more forgiving on cost. We’ll see.
All estimations above are for the scout plus the 209 parts.
If I were to order all the parts from the servo erector set, would that decrease the cost any? That way I can only order what I need and not be replacing parts at extra cost.
The kits are pretty close to the same price as if you bought everything separate. You would not save much. You could however buy-as-you-go but then you will loose money on shipping.
Have you thought of getting a BRAT? The BRAT is economically priced, and you can reuse the parts later for a 209.
Here is my bot. I am a new builder and am still getting used to the programming. My leg configuration is slightly different than the picture above. I thought it was pretty simple to build from the picture. Just study the plans for the other bots on this site, figure out how everything goes together, what parts to use for each bracket, etc.
So far, my programming is going well with this bot. My battery just died so I’ll have to finish my bots ‘first steps’ after the next recharge.
~Mike
The more I look at this, the more expensive it gets. My best estimate with everything now is $900 (for that price I’ll buy a Johnny 5…). Thats way to much for me at te moment…I barely make enough for gas and insurance for my car right now!
As far as the BRAT goes, I think I will design one using the servo erector set, so I can reuse the parts later for the 209 I plan on having. I will just buy the more expensive servos (HS5645’s) from the hobby shop with my discount.
Also, will the BRAT benefit any if I use the 15 degree ankles on it? Or will it totally ruin the balance? That way I don’t have to buy other ankles when I upgrade.
The BRAT just uses a standard servo bracket for its ankles. When you go to upgrade to the 209 later just buy the 15 degree parts then and not the additional standard brackets. pretty sure the 209 uses 6 asb-04 which is the same as the BRAT. The scout on the other hand only uses 4.
The problem with me buying one of the BRAT kits offered is that they all come with servos…I want to buy thy my servos at the hobby store and use them in the BRAT…I guess that means I have to buy all the brackets and make it myself.
Thats why I was asking about the 15 degree ankles. If I buy all the parts, I would like to buy them and use them in the BRAT so that I don’t have to replace them later and have an unused sed of feet/ankles laying around. I would like to use all of the parts I buy for the BRAT in the 209 if possible (minus the 3 inch bracket, it has no place in the 209)
the BRAT does use the smaller feet. My parts are currently committed so I can’t really check but you might want to ask the question if the BRAT will work mechanically with the bigger feet. there isn’t any reason you can’t just buy the BRAT parts individually, I don’t seem to recollect a huge price difference, especially if you are getting your servos at cost or something.
I did this when I was going to build a BRAT and had all the brackets assembled and ready for servos. I decided to go a different direction though to answer a question I have.
It’s easy to kit the brat your self, I did it. All you have to do is count the brackets you see in the image and add the right quantities to the shopping cart. Assembly is easy when you follow the assembly guides.
By kitting your own brat, you can substitute parts for other parts and only get what you need. Keep in mind though, that many parts come in packs of two, so dont order more than you need. Example, for 6 ASB-04s brackets, you only need to order a quantity of 3 sets 2x3 = 6 ASB-04s
Most of the cost isn’t really in the kits themselves but the servos. The ratio of cost for lynmotion-made products to servos were about 3:7 since I used the cheapie hs-645mg servos.
The great thing about buying the servos from lm is that they give you the metal servo horns which are an integral part of the robot kit.
Ductape, not sure if you can stay below the $600 budget for a biped. You might want to consider simpler robot that won’t require as brute of a servo such as a hexapod or something. Hexapods requires strong servos but nothing like the biped since the weight distribution is more even across all the servos.
Oh yeah, if you wish to program it and not just drive the servo through lynxterm, I suggest getting the bot board as well. I find the layout really compact and clean and is made for various lynxmotion robots. You can find other basic/atom protoboards but they are nearly twice as big and will look clunky on your bot. Good luck!
