Morphing Hexapod Has Us Drooling

morphex_morphing_hexabot

Hexapod robots seem to be a dime a dozen lately, but we think you will be hard pressed to not be wowed by [Zenta’s] latest creation. He’s built a bunch of hex and octopods before, but hasn’t tried building anything quite like this.

His MorpHex bot might look like your standard hexapod, but once it gets moving, you can see that it’s quite unique. Utilizing over 25 servos driven by a single ARC-32 controller, MorpHex moves in smooth, fluid-like motions, making it almost seem like it’s alive. The inner portion of the body can fan out, extending the overall length of the bot, though it’s more meant to allow the bot to morph into a ball and back, rather than increase its size.

In the teaser video below, you can see MorpHex in action, with its parts flowing together more like a jellyfish than any sort of land animal. While [Zenta] is continuing to work on MorpHex’s sphere-morphing capabilities, we think it would make for an awesome and creepy spiderbot!

[Thanks, weaz]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA9BlcwLlxM&w=470]

49 thoughts on “Morphing Hexapod Has Us Drooling

    1. Never mind what I said about that it could be made to look cooler. I’ve taken a look at the pictures on his site, and there’s no way my opinion has any weight against those. This thing is so incredibly cool.

  1. Part of me is going “cool” and another part is going “argh, quick poke it with a broom, flatten it with a book, make it go away”

    (Arachnaphobia is apparently hereditary. The people who survived in the past were the people who ran away from the big hairy spiders, not the ones who picked them up and got bitten.)

    1. They taste quite bitter! Granted, I’ve never tried tarantula… hear that it’s better.

      I wonder how awesome this bot will be once both halves are finished.

      hmm…Will there be a second set of legs,inverted?
      Or it could have a hemispheric ‘hat’ that lowers onto the bottom as it contracts to complete the sphere.

      Considering the other projects on his site, this one is far from finished and it’s already an amazing build.

  2. Wow. The movement of this bot is really … BEAUTIFUL … FLUID … GRACEFUL.

    This is probably one of the most amazing demos I’ve ever seen. Good luck on completing this. I want one too!!!

  3. wow.. that’s just creepy
    first thing I thought was with the “eggshell” from the picture wrap the bot in nylon and add googly eyes, it really would seem.. alive!

    not that it isn’t close already

  4. I love the photos on his website where the sphere pieces are made from a globe. Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “The world is out to get me!” Hide this on a desk as a normal globe and then have it transform and chase someone. Good scene for a movie…

  5. Needs more legs. I’ve got a fever… and the only prescription, is more legs! That thing is frickin’ awesome. Why isn’t this guy working with NASA? Oh, wait, why isn’t this guy working with ESA? Or something?

    Ooh, ooh, ooh, mate it to one of those quadrocopters for aerial awesome-sauce!

    Somebody hire this guy to build big versions of that thing already!

  6. Incredible! This is probably the best “walking” robot I’ve seen on this site. Excellent work.

    On a more lighthearted note, imagine that in Half-Life 3 (yeah right) with a big turret on top.

  7. Did no one else watch this and think “wow, how cool would that be 10x bigger?”

    I love the fluidity in the movement and the range of motion. Looks like this robot would be able to traverse rough terrain.

    So who wants to help me build the giant version?

  8. I’ve been scanning the hackaday website for almost a year and this is the first thing I’ve seen that’s compelled me to write a comment.

    Dear Designer. I’m certain you are holding this project near and dear to your heart, but this is honestly the coolest thing I have ever seen. I would LOVE to be able to build this myself. Is it possible for you to one day post the plans for us DIYers to try our hand?

    Make it public domain?

    Very very very cool.

    Thanks for sharing. Please keep us posted.
    Jason

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