Sphere Morphing Hexabot Now Rolls Around

[Zenta] has been building his MorpHex rolling hexapod for nearly a year now, and good things come to those who wait. After a ton of development and fabrication, [Zenta] finally has his mechanical jellyfish robot rolling and walking around.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen [Zenta]‘s MorpHex robot in action. A year ago, we saw the beginnings of the project with that included 25 servos mounted on a custom chassis. Last winter, the top hemisphere of the MorpHex was added, but rolling locomotion was still on the drawing board. A lot has changed since then, and now [Zenta]’s robot can roll or walk across the floor.

From the video (available after the break), we see that [Zenta] kept the one degree of freedom for the panels on the upper cylinder. He’s thinking about making the MorpHex more symmetrical; just copying the plans for the bottom hemisphere onto the top, for instance. This plan would allow the MorpHex to roll in a straight line, so we can’t wait to see what [Zenta] cooks up next.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuC6q9kbryw&w=470]

43 thoughts on “Sphere Morphing Hexabot Now Rolls Around

  1. Am I the only one who thinks of Samus when it morphs to a ball and starts rolling around?

    Was excellent when it was first featured on HaD, still excellent and becoming more epic with every iteration.

  2. ‘Gotta be the finest piece of amateur engineering I’ve ever seen!

    Note that their video ends at 4:20. A coincidence?

    I’m finding the link and voten for ’em!

  3. Oops! The link resides below the video on YouTube, not here. They are in some international design competition and request our votes. I’m goin back to YouTube and findin that link wright now!

  4. Amazing,but how would it work outside? You know, dirt, uneven surfaces, I think NASA is looking for a new Mars Rover, or at least something to freak toddlers out.

      1. I’ve not tried it outside yet, I do plan to though. I don’t think it would work very well on rough terrain. Another method for rolling would be better, more like a caterpillar motion maybe? When it comes to dirt the internal electronics is way to vulnerable for that. But with a completely different budget who knows.. ;)

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