Dealing with all the wiring can quickly become a challenge on robots, especially the walking variety which have actuators everywhere. [Eric Yufeng Wu] sidestepped the wiring issue by creating Q8bot, a little quadruped where all the components, including the actuators, are mounted directly on the PCB.
[Eric] uses a custom PCB as the spine of the robot, and the eight servos plug directly into connectors on the PCB. With their bottom covers removed, the servos screw neatly into a pair of 3D printed frames on either side of the PCB, which also have integrated 14500 battery holders. The PCB is minimalist, with just the XIAO ESP32C3 module, a boost converter circuit to drive the servos, and a battery fuel gauge. Each SCARA-style leg consists of four SLS 3D printed segments, with press-fit bearings in the joints.
The little one moves quickly, and can even do little jumps. For this prototype, most of the control processing is done on a laptop, which sends raw joint angles to the onboard ESP32 via the ESP-Now protocol. We think this little robot has a lot of development potential, and fortunately [Eric] has made all the hardware and software files available for others to build their own.
Taking the back plate of the servos and modeling them into your own design, excellent idea!
Completely agree! I stopped the video there “wow wow wow hang on!” and went back to see it again. Such a fantastic idea!
Maybe I’m just moving in the wrong circles, but I thought the vacuum-table solder mask tool was fantastic, but uncommented upon. Is this standard equipment these days?
Same thoughts. It appears to be 3D printed!
According to the video description, it’s a modified version of this design: https://github.com/scheffield/stencil-fix
I have used magnetic project mat for holding stencils.
It also works for turning small SMD resistors and capacitors (most have magnetic metal in them).
Fantastic design! You went the extra mile of planing to make a beautiful cable-less design thats just clean. Not that I am a fan of Apple, but thats as near as one could get to an Apple iQuadruped.
It’s a lot like automotive module design. Everything is lead frame instead of wires. Wires are very expensive in manufacturing because they need to be done manually. Very neat.
Woooaw, the level of professionalism in this project, video included. There must be so many skills involved, to be able to do this. I wonder how one build up so much knowledge.
8 servos. Beautiful work, but with just one more servo it could avoid that really awkward and indeterminate scraping-the-floor skid-steer that happens when it’s trying to do anything but straight-line motion.