Gaits, IK, and Excel

Comments

• xanadu Posts: 3,347

  2017-07-10 01:11

  Wow. Really nice. It's moving with no torso or head! I love the battery placement.
• Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514

  2017-07-10 03:58 edited 2017-07-10 04:17

  The healthy human gait is statically unstable. Every step requires catching a potential fall. What the YouTube video demonstrates is the shuffling gait of a doddering nonagenarian, where every step must rely upon static balance. (The only thing missing is a freaking walker!) Show me something more dynamic, and I might be a believer.
  
  -Phil
• Heater. Posts: 21,230

  2017-07-10 04:17

  Ha, excllent idea. A Bipedal walking robot with a Zimmer Frame!
  
  
• erco Posts: 20,248

  2017-07-10 07:22

  Ouch, PhiPi! Agreed, high speed dynamics is a whole other animal, but that's not promised here. Keith calls his creation a Tai Chi robot, and IMO it's a beautiful thing to watch, staying in balance each step. Not to mention powering 12 servos off 4 AAA batteries without resetting the controller. That's a monumental achievement by itself. The Excel tool he presents is primarily a geometry tool to use Excel to take some drudgery out of repetitive IK calcs. Certainly another worthy achievement, I'm a huge fan of Keith's work.
• GordonMcComb Posts: 3,366

  2017-07-10 15:37 edited 2017-07-10 15:43

  Phil, dynamic gait requires much higher speed in the motors. RC servos, especially these cheep imported micros, just aren't fast enough, and anything else is just too expensive for the average person. So as an experimentation platform for the typical hobbyist, and given the purpose of the demonstration (the MATH behind the programming), this is more than fine. Not sure what you were expecting for 50 bucks in parts ($30 if Erco buys them).
  
  
• erco Posts: 20,248

  2017-07-10 21:30

  Keith just posted this video showing the Excel animation: