Ok. I’ve been interested in robotics for sometime, and have decided to do a robotic spider to the best accuracy I can.
I’m looking into the Perceptual Control Theory and Balance Gesture theory (terrian Adaption) for motion.
The problem is 8 legs of 12DOF - yes 12, and the other 2 have 10DOF.
My question, is there any software that I could use to program the 58 servos required for motion, or am I SOL, and have to figure it by myself.
58 servos?
12DOF?
your gonna need some powerful servos, i can tell ya that right now, also, i dont know wat you can use to control all these thing, maybe you could split them up between 2 SSC32s? im not sure, this would be a very hard project
Jim, is that possible? and maybe somehow control it with a basic atom, just split the connecting wires?
There is a limit as to how many DOF can be used in one apendage. The most powerful hobby servos in the world will not support more than about 6 DOF. -and that is with a biped configuration which generally keeps the COG above the supporting servos. They generally do less work and draw less power that way. 58 servos at about 2 ounces each is over 7lbs for the servos alone. The mechanical components will easily weigh another 10 lbs, that’s estimating only 3 ounces for each link. Each servo in a 12 DOF spider leg is in series so to speak. So each servo needs to be able to support it’s legs percentage of the total weight. My point is there is no servo strong enough to do this. No amount of load balancing will be able to compensate, and I seriously doubt there is a way to indirectly drive the joints for any mechanical advantage. The manor of control is not your problem.
Not to be a ■■■■ or anything, but people have been told that it can’t be done, it’s impossible.
Man went to the moon, we’ve gone Mach 5, we’ve been to the deepest part of the ocean, a guy who is fully paralyzed can control a PC mouse with his brain. Nothing is impossible.
I was asking an aswer on how would one go about driving the servos, I didn’t ask if thing project was possible. Let me handle the impossible.
Hey I was just trying to help. By all means go for it! I’ve been wrong before. Send images. 
We would love to see it.
with out going into the possible / impossible part…
I would agree that you would need at least 2 SSC-32 to just drive the servers.
one com3
two com4
other any pattern like that.
Might also want to keep a small eye on my project as I should be doing some Weigh testing this week with my 6 leg 3DOF spider I am working on to make sure the body is not going to be to heavy. I will be taking lots of pics as well.
You can either get a ton of ABBs and get them to work with each other somehow or you can get 2 SSC-32s. Have one drive the left side and other drive the right side. If you plan on using the SEQ then you iwll need to first make the left or right side. Write down the servo angle values for every step. Then start a new project and negate all those values for the other side.
Best of luck, pictures and videos indeed.
Well, I plan on trying to have a prototype leg up by Christmas.
Also, on the 3D parts that Lynxmotion allows you to download, if someone could save those as STEP files in SW that would be great, or dimensioned sketches of them that would be cool too. See, I have AutoDesk Inventor because of the Engineering Graphics courses I’m taking, so I would like to assembly a 3D model to get an idea, but I don’t have the money to buy and student SW license. 
And your planning on making a 58 servo spider??? woah! That will be a fortune, but If it ever happens put it in stores and I’ll buy it!
92 servos! ?Hope you own a bank, and also, you better get a car battery to run all those servos, better yet, just use 110v house current 
. As for the software, you are on your own since there is no market demand for 92 servo controllers.
Good luck… and may the force be with you…
Im wondering if the servos can hold up a 10 lb car battery plus a 10 lb body and 7lbs of servos???
either way, I dont know how your going to pay for this (unless you rob a bank)…I cant even find the money for a 5DOF arm
Well I don’t know how I missed it on the original post but it’s not 58 or even 92 servos. But actually 96 for the 8 legs alone, and another 20 for the two other apendages. So my fist responce is way off. So for the servos only it’s 14.5 lbs. and just for the mechanical linkage 21.75 lbs for a total of 36.25 lbs. That’s before adding a torso to attach the legs to and it doesn’t cover the weight of batteroes and electronics. The current draw on this will be in the neighborhood of 50 amps (sitting motionless) to over 116 amps when moving! But to just focus on the answer, it would take 4 x SSC-32’s to control the beast. And I’m sure they would be able to do the job nicely, and inexpensively.
96 servos? and the SSC32s cant handle that kinda of draw, huh? unless he set up seperate station for each SSC32
im sure he could regulate the power to the ssc-32’s or abb’s with diodes or something…but 96 servos!!!
Yeah, he said 58 servos originally, but if you do the math:
1 servo for every DOF
12DOF = 12 servos X 6 legs = 72 servos
He said the other 2 of the 8 legs are 10DOF, this works out to:
10 servos per leg X2 = 20 servos, you add that total to the 72 previously, and you wind up with a whopping 92 servos!
Mike, it’s 8 legs… Spiders are of the same family as scorpions. They have 8 legs and several other apendages, so he’s saying 12 x 8 legs and and additional 10 x 2. I used to keep Tarantulas as pets.
ahahaha
Well if you look up there 
you will see that I said 6 legs with 12 DOF and 2 legs with 10DOF this means that we are talking about 8 legs…
Jim, did you get too much flux from Chungas board blur your vision? 
JK
its old age with me…im only 15!!! lol jk…
Jim, I regards to your last edit:
Oh so we are talking 116 servos? I never was good with word problems.
