[Theo Jansen] makes awesome things called Strandbeests; wind-driven automatons that roam beaches and art galleries. It has long been one of our favorite mechanisms. Newer, but also a favorite is the Sphero smartphone controlled orb. The combination of the two is epic!
You may remember seeing Sphero used to create a tiny BB8 replica. Inside the orb is a tiny robot capable of rolling itself hamster-wheel-style in any direction. It’s a rather powerful bot and that makes Sphero fast. The high RPM is what makes this hack possible. Sphero spins rapidly while perched on some rollerblade wheels. Gearing converts this to the rolling motion of the Strandbeest.
The original concept was posted a year ago but it was just now brought to our attention by [fhareide] who is working on his own smaller Strandbeest driven by a Sphero. Since there are no assembly details on the original posting, you can follow along with [fhareide’s] documentation in order to complete your own build. So far [fhareide] imported the STL model into Autodesk Inventor, printed out one set of gears to insure the printer resolution could handle it, and assembled one set of legs.
We think of this as a kind of exoskeleton for a Sphero. We’ll keep an eye on this through the assembly, testing the drive mechanism and then the point where the whole thing becomes self-aware and either runs away to hide or terminates him.
So a hamster in a ball won’t cut it?
http://i.imgur.com/oyvMUP1.gif
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3iP0NGDDao
Ohhh yes! 3D printing is now justified undisputably.
It’s horrible to lock an animal in a ball!
Animals are not slaves.
Put yourself in his place, it must be very stressful for him.
A hamster in a ball lacks a certain… controllability. But it might even the hamsters odds in the ongoingt cat/hamster war…
my special nerd spot is tingling
Somebody has been playing too much “Fantastic Contraption”…
Have you seen this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qCx4r8G8s0
The original Strandbeest, with it’s wind-power and storing energy as compressed air in plastic pop bottles is a work of utter genius. If I were NASA I’d have Theo working for me.
Ok, where did the animated gif come from? All I’ve been able to find is an obvious render of the same concept.
Thank you for the kind words! I have now completed my build: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWBLhnuU0vA
And for the record. It is not a smaller version. It is the same size! :)
Thank you for the kind words! I have now completed my build:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWBLhnuU0vA&w=800&h=480%5D
And for the record. It is not a smaller version. It is the same size! :)
Awesome final version man, well done