Comments on: Rideable hexapod

By: Danny Mal

Danny Mal — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 05:09:51 +0000

Heh. If you want to see an eight-legged walking machine that can carry a few hundred pounds, check out the Mondo Spider: http://vimeo.com/1201608 (or http://www.mondospider.com)

By: Louis II

Louis II — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 15:56:02 +0000

WH40K:
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p186/spi_photo/Irondefiler.jpg
or:
http://www.saguisag.com/photonduck/eradvehicles02.jpg

You all ever hear about the “Kinetic Sculpture Race” in Humboldt, CA, USA?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_sculpture_race

I’ve been thinking of some kind of walker for that… maybe that guy’s wh40k suggestion would work?? heh..

By: Apothus

Apothus — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 07:19:26 +0000

Being mechanical makes sense, its wierd the things you pick up in peoples speach “high amperage relays” someone with an electronics background would most likely have called them high current relays.

the design is solid and useful, especially for high school classes in a kit form or even just off plans.

I would be interested to hear what the rated payload of this walking frame is.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 06:10:03 +0000

yeah it looks like hes loosing alot of traction on one or two of the legs, with some experimenting and pricisely measured rubber plugs for the end of the feet, he might be able to gain some speed, both from even grip as well as not having a lop-sided rotation

By: Sp`ange

Sp`ange — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 04:36:02 +0000

I wonder why he didn’t put rubber feet on the bot. I noticed the feet slipping a bit.

By: Solenoidclock

Solenoidclock — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 03:52:07 +0000

Oh, he is a mechanical engineer. He also learned microcontrollers just this semester, so mad props to him for applying his new knowledge in such an awesome way.

By: Solenoidclock

Solenoidclock — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 03:50:02 +0000

ewww! his electronics are groety. He should be driving the motors with PWM from the arduino through a solid state h-bridge or something; the rest of the circuit also leaves a lot to be desired. If he were just going to drive the thing all direct with a joystick and not plan for the future, he could have even gone pure analog with a 556 and that joystick of his. The mechanics are just wonderful though. I hope this guy is an ME.

By: Solenoidclock

Solenoidclock — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 03:29:38 +0000

I could see this being easily converted to steampower.

By: Sammy

Sammy — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 01:36:24 +0000

Doesn’t look that rideable. Imagine being thrown off !

By: MadTiger

MadTiger — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:56:31 +0000

You’ve got that Bruce Lee + MIT look going.

Good stuff on the hexapod. Rubber stoppers on the legs are a must.

By: D3XTR

D3XTR — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:41:36 +0000

wold some one please get this guy some rubber stoppers to put on the bottom of the bots legs ???

or maybe get 3 pairs of kids sneekers ??

mighty cool hack !

By: nnx

nnx — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:17:55 +0000

Cool and Disapointing at the same time.

When I read “rideable Hexapod” I thought of something like Warhammer 40k Spidertanks (at least i think it was wh40k).

Well yeah, its a hexapod, and its rideable…
Though I would like to see those guys use balljointed Legs and Hydraulics next time. :D

By: Taylor Alexander

Taylor Alexander — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:06:08 +0000

Meh… it’s not a “real” hexapod in my head, it’s only got one, maybe two degrees of freedom total. Enough to go forward and backward, left and right, but it can’t dynamically change leg height, or any of the other things that give walking robots an advantage. It’s a neat project, but I like “real” hexapods, with independent motors on every leg.
-Taylor

By: Louis II

Louis II — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:11:38 +0000

(also… mine was not a hex, per say… though the one with fewest legs has 6… and the most has 18)

By: Louis II

Louis II — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:10:30 +0000

That’s pretty funny…. I have been drawing plans for my own that’s pedal powered for the past week or so… everything from simple to insane. This has been an encouraging video.