Very very cool! Smooth transition. Are you controlling the expansion yourself? Do you plan on automating it or making it adjustable?
Thanks! I’m controlling it myself. Making it automatic wouldn’t be a problem to do but I like having the ability to control it by manually.
Hi Zenta,
Really cool!! I love it how the legs walk around the center axis but the electronics stay static on there place. Really smooth. If you expand the body, do you also move the initial positions of the tars so the tibia stay vertical? if so, how does that work if you expand the body without walking? I think the initial tars position should be much more flexible then used in the original phoenix configurations. Especially when you want to morph it to a ball.
It looks like the single servo in the middle can handle it like ease. This can only be done if you positioned all gears excactly on the correct position. Like always, great unique design!! I love it!
Xan
Thanks Xan! Well, that effect (the inner body stay static while expanding) was not intentional. But that got me thinking that it would be interesting to incorporate. Some math are probably necessary to match the rotation speed of the inner servo and walking speed. Not a priority feature but would be fun to try one time.
While expanding the body the LegPosXZ values are adjusted corresponding to the new body radius. I’m also calculating a new coxaoffset and the new body dimensions. The initial positions defined in the config file can only be re-set when the leg is lifted in a gait (of course… 
). One tricky part was calibrating the inner servo. I did also try out the math part in excel at first.
Glad you liked it! Actually, the inner servo got a very easy job since the legs that are in contact with the ground sort of help it doing the work. 
Awesome! thanks
Great work and good to see the progress. sounds like a very interesting piece of code. i cant get my head around some of the programming skills shown by yourself and Kurt. not to mention the god father of the code Xan.
the video is very cool. far better than i could have ever done with my Sphex or Atlas project (cant remember the name) i was working on.
thanks for sharing.
8)
Added a link to your video to the Lynxmotion Facebook page.
Thanks Jonny!
I believe the same method can be used for any robot that alter the body dimensions. Like a lizard with a flexible spine or a hex with several body sections. That’s something I would really like to try one time.
It’s cool alright!
I can just see a reticulating snake!
Alan KM6VV
Hi,
Just a minor update. For just a few minutes ago I managed to make MorpHex move from normal hexapod mode into the sphere mode and back to hexapod mode again. And it seem to work very fine!
There are several tweaks to do on the code to make the transition work smoother and I’ve to find a way to tune/calibrate the sphere position since this is a position that is very far from the calibrated positions. Some of the feet are a bit off from the calculated positions due to small differences between the servos.
So far the servos seem to handle the load very well, but there is about 1,2 kg of extra load that need to be added (6 servos, some brackets and 12 sphere sections ++). I’m still only working on the code and have not started mounting the sphere parts yet.
Sounds great! I’m really looking forward to a video. hint hint
Xan
Can you use any kind of “home” switchs to aid in getting all the feet tucked in?
Alan KM6VV
Be patient my friend… 
I’m not sure if I get what you mean. Switches that detect when each leg is in position?
Update:
Solved. Two servos was a bit off due to poor calibration… 
+ added a small compensation value for the coxas. Now all feet are perfectly aligned.
Yeah, some way to be able to “home” (like in CNC and motion control) the foot to get it all packed away.
Alan KM6VV
ah, sounds good. Time for a movie. LOL
Xan, i’v started to cut out some boards and iv got some sticks and paint. Soon we can start a protest for the video! lol.
Take you time, you cannot rush ingeniousness.
We program our hexapods to sing songs and carry signs!
Alan KM6VV
Hi again,
New update:
This evening I temporarily mounted three of the sphere sections using strong velcro. I did it just for testing. So far it seem to work very well! MorpHex curled together like a sphere and back to a hexapod. With the body fully expanded the legs got very much freedom even with the sphere parts mounted. Tomorrow I’ll temporarily mount the other three (have to sand them first).
After that I’ll reinforce the sphere sections, probably using expanded PVC. And permanently mount them to the tibia sections. The next step after that is the upper sphere section.
Btw: Earlier this evening I filmed a 9 minute workshop video. But I found it so bad. And something got wrong too… Typical. I might try another video after mounting all the six sphere sections.
Have to go to bed…
great. well look forward to it. we all are!
very curious to see this in action. never get bored of your work. night Kåre, im off to bed now to. been up testing cocktails with my wife for my sons party tomorrow. will be busy but ill check in to see how its going.