Scurrier

GeorgeCollins

Here is a Scurrier, a robot hexapod I entered in the Open Walker Challenge at Robogames. Scurrier is a very straight-forward hexapod. The only unusual features are that it is a bit big and light. I also made it long and thin (as opposed to round) so that it would go fast in a straight line. The frame is aluminum sheet cut by Big Blue Saw. The robot uses a propeller USB servo controller that is reprogrammed.

I have made a few walking robots now, all of them using propeller chips. I love how easy it is to control standard servos with a prop while having other cogs free for sensors. Currently this robot doesn't really use the power of the chip since I was keeping it simple to race. But now that I have this robot I plan to put sensors on it and use it's good ground clearance to try some outdoor or cross-country projects.

Scurrier walking:
http://youtu.be/121DuXM5tYE

Robogames Walker Challenge 2012:
http://youtu.be/lrH94NOg13M

tobdec

If you gave that thing the ability to articulate horizontaly it would be a beast! BTW great job...you cut that yourself?

GeorgeCollins

By articulate horizontally I think you mean to either add another servo in the vertical plane or to put a set of hinges so that the legs went straight up and down vertically (as opposed to rotating). Either thing would improve the robots gait and probably it's ground clearance as well. I don't think either thing would make it do the Robogames course faster. It's got plenty of ground clearance for the obstacles it faces now. So it would make sense to do that, but probably more for other purposes.

I would probably prefer to add hinges ( a pinion ? I don't know the words for it, see below) so that legs go up and down vertically. Already the main weight of the robot is the servos and to add six more servos would increase weight, complexity and fragility.


Mechanical thing I don't know the word for: