5/5/17: I have replaced Strider's twine walking mechanism with paperclips. He still falls over a lot, and he skitters instead of strides (due to using a 9v battery with a high-speed motor- again, I don't have a proper 6v battery yet...). But nonetheless, he can get around! However, I am open to any suggestions/tutorials to make him even sturdier, less fall-prone, and walk more than skitter (though I'm aware that the last one has a lot to do with the voltage and high speed of the motor)!
5/4/17: Hi again, everyone! I'm back with a new robot.
Because I've read that hacking toys is not a good way to start in robotics, Roboscraptor is now, sadly, on hold until I am more skilled in building robots. In the meantime, I wanted to see if I could come up with a walking robot using only my imagination- no videos, tutorials, or anything outside of what I already knew. Strider is the result of my tinkering.
Strider, of course, is intended to be a quadruped, but the twine "walking mechanism" didn't end up allowing him to walk that well. I imagine something like solid wire would suit the role much better.
I have included a video demo of Strider, including his flailing (as opposed to walking, which he can't do at all right now). I hope you like him regardless, and yes, he is still a work in progress! Please enjoy. :-)
P.S. I'm sorry again for the watermark... for some reason my version of Windows doesn't have a pre-installed movie maker. :-/
Skitters more than it strides
- Control method: none yet
- CPU: none yet
- Power source: 9v battery
- Programming language: none yet
- Sensors / input devices: none yet
- Target environment: indoor
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://community.robotshop.com/robots/show/strider
Motion
Not sure how it would actually move - the rear legs would rotate around? You’ll need quite a lot more mechanics and linkages if you just want to use one motor for legged motion.
Hi Cbenson!
The mechanics are a little different than you might think. I actually glued screws onto the parts of the motor that rotate, and made sure that the legs were loose enough that they still swing freely- hence, a makeshift cam of sorts. The hind legs do move, but they don’t rotate like they otherwise would.
I’m going to be uploading a video that shows how Strider now works given that I replaced the twine with paper clips- he is now much more stable, but actually skitters more than he strides!
Thank you for your interest!
Interesting experiment. I
Interesting experiment. I am sure you are learning a lot. I like seeing old school with glue, string etc. I am sure you will get there with him.
I thought roboscraptor was kind of cool, so shame you have scrapped him. I feel that looking at toys, using kits or whatever doesn’t really matter. When you are new to this, there is so much to learn that each project will bring its challenges no matter what. Hacking toys you learn a lot about how others do it. You also have to learn how to integrate what someone else has done to make it do what you want.
You can make a 6v motor by buying four alkaline AA (1.5v) batteries with
https://www.robotshop.com/en/battery-holder---4-x-aa-2x2.html
That motor will crisp with too much of that 9v battery. Eventually, you will want rechargeables.
Keep at it. Good luck!
Thank you, Bill.
I am thankful to see you’re interested in my work- you’ve actually inspired me to keep working on Strider! And don’t worry, Roboscraptor isn’t scrapped, she’s just on the back burner for a while. I’ll likely get back to Roboscraptor eventually.
Thank you so much for your support, and for the link! I really needed a 6v battery holder.
Moving
The video helped explain perfectly!
