A Quadruped Robot

I have seen some great quadruped robots on this site in the past few years and always wanted to build one myself. It became one of the most time-consuming projects I have ever done, including not only a robot, but also a simulator and Android app.

Electronics:

The robot is using twelve HK-15138 Hobbking servos. They are controlled by an Arduino MEGA and powered by a 6.6V 3000mAh LiFePo. There is a bluetooth module for communications and an ultrasonic sensor with a small servo as a sonar.

Mechanics:

The frame mostly consists of laser cut acrylic plates connected by metal rods. Joints are made of small ball bearings and nuts. The feet are camera tripod legs with additional rubber for grip. The "eyes" can rotate to scan the environment. Design was done in Sketchup and is inspired by Boston Dynamics' Alphadog.

Programming:

With the current code, the robot can perform body translation/rotation, send and receive bluetooth commands and walk using a basic sine gait. I am already working on more complex gaits. To make this easier I wrote a small simulator using Processing. This way it is possible to copy and paste Arduino code between the robot and the simulator. I also made an Android app to control the robot via bluetooth.

If you are interested you can check out my blog post for more information:

http://coretechrobotics.blogspot.com/2014/10/a-simple-quadruped-robot.html