MakerFaire K.C.: Hexy, The $200 Hexapod Project

I’ve always loved hexapods. Unfortunately, the cost to play with them can be rather daunting. Hexy is seeking to make a decent impact on that by being only $200. Yep, that $200 includes everything but the computer. You get the entire chassis, micro controller, servos, sensors, batteries, etc.

I ran into [Joe] from arcbotics showing off a hexy at the maker faire and had a few moments to check it out. He showed off some slick motion and explained some future upgrades. It looks like they are intending to go to metal gears in the commercial version which might push the cost to around $250. At this cost, this robot is comparable to the Lego NXT systems.

9 thoughts on “MakerFaire K.C.: Hexy, The $200 Hexapod Project

  1. Doable with lego? I am sure it is but not for $250.

    This is an awesome and affordable robot platform that I would love to own. My daughters would go nuts over it and hopefully learn a ton about robotics and programming.

  2. barely got funded. “$168,267 PLEDGED OF $13,000 GOAL” :)

    my guess is that the servos are the most expensive part of the project. from what i can tell it has 18 servos (3 per leg * 6 legs).

      1. I’ve seen some HXT900 compatible servos on ebay for as low as $2.50 (shipping included) each. The gears are plastic and strip easily but they’re still very usable.

  3. The servos are HXT900’s which run about 2$ from hobbyking.

    To be fair, the HXT900 is a staple of RC and has proven itself to be comparable to 15$ name brand servos time and again.

  4. I wonder sometimes about the crowd-funded projects – being over-financed can kill a project way faster than having only nickles and dimes to work with.

    Having said that, does anybody have images of the giant hexapod robot from south of the border that used windshield motors instead of servos? That thing was huge, ominous and veeery slow.

    PS – re: overfunded projects

    I was at an odex demo a long time ago in a galaxy that was once better funded. I was rather aghast at the funding to performance ratio. In my mind, giant mechanical octopus androids should at least be able to chase their prey. This thing could not have kept up with an athletic banana slug.

    It took Odex 7 minutes to limber up and crawl through a doorway, and 15 minutes to climb in and out of a truck bed. It looked really cool, like a sci-fi rendition of a phage, but had all the performance of a giant oaken waterwheel circa 1540. And like all cool demos, short of finding a couple of surplus Stark fusion reactors, it would require a very long extension cable to travel anywhere.

    We wasted a lot of money re-learning the whole “never fight a land war in asia” lesson for the eleventy-fifth time in modern western culture. If we had channeled a few of those pallets of cash to robotics firms, we would probably have all sorts of interesting police robots roaming the streets by now.

    “You! Citizen, pick up that can!” – I can hardly wait!

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