View Full Version : Chatter Spider
ajward
08-25-2011, 06:23 PM
Went to the local 'Shack yesterday to find an odd battery and found Hexbug Spiders on sale. So, being in one of those "I can't resist" moods, I came home with a red one named "Archie"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/81065424@N00/6079947843/in/photostream
Kinda fascinating, the way it works. I'm more of a tracked vehicle person, but I'd like to build a multi-legged walker of some sort. Archie gives me a starting point.
Amanda
mindrobots
08-25-2011, 06:38 PM
Cool! ...and "Archie" is a good spider name.
I was looking for a standard RS product that could be combined with a QuickStart and some of the other soon to be stocked Parallax products from which to build an interesting robot project. Sort of a celebration build for the new partnership. I wonder if you could pop the top off and wire in a few pins of teh QuickStart for a quick brain? Certainly well worth some experimenting!
ajward
08-25-2011, 09:24 PM
Cool! ...and "Archie" is a good spider name.
I was looking for a standard RS product that could be combined with a QuickStart and some of the other soon to be stocked Parallax products from which to build an interesting robot project. Sort of a celebration build for the new partnership. I wonder if you could pop the top off and wire in a few pins of teh QuickStart for a quick brain? Certainly well worth some experimenting!
Surprisingly, this little critter has a lot of screws holding it together. When the novelty wears off, I'll explore removing some of those to see how the beastie works.
Amanda
The Spider is cute and works great as-is, but there's not much hacking to do (mechanical or electronic), other than maybe putting a small LiPo in place of the 3 button cells. It's an unlicensed copy of Jamie Manzell's Spider Tank: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6qpSOjtB2E
All those leg joints are pretty flexy. If you add weight or change the CG, it won't walk nearly as well. So don't make any mods you can't undo, you may regret it!
I have one of those, a blue one, I love watching how the mechanism works.
Amanda: What was the Shack's sale price? If it's way below the $25 I paid for mine, I'll get a second one to let my twins battle it out. :)
ajward
08-26-2011, 09:45 PM
Amanda: What was the Shack's sale price? If it's way below the $25 I paid for mine, I'll get a second one to let my twins battle it out. :)
'Twas on a clearance rack for $10.99. Couldn't pass that up.
Not out there in LA! Still $25.