Has anyone build or used the oldschool Crustcrawler hexapod?
Hi,
Has anyone used the old school Crustcrawler hexapod robot? The big sheet metal contraption with the 2 DOF legs. About 5 years ago, I bought the very last one that they had. It was the unit that they used for photography in their catalogs and advertising, so it was sold to me as "used", but was actually brand new. I am interested in what others might have done with this beast.
It has sat on my dresser in my bedroom, as I have never had the time to use it. Now that I am retired and after much lobbying from my grandson, I have dusted it off and have started to play with it. It came with twelve servos for the legs. I just recently bought a Pololu servo control board and have it installed.
Now I have to decide what I am going to control this with. Eventually I want it to be autonomous, but first I have to just get it to walk. At first, I will use a BOE and BS2 just to play with walking. After that, I want more power so I will most likely use a Rpi 3 or maybe an 8085 SBC... or maybe both. What I am thinking now is that the BOE and BS2 will be used for controlling the legs, which itself will get commands from the pi or 8085, which itself will get its instruction from a wireless connection.
Any thoughts?
Best,
J
Has anyone used the old school Crustcrawler hexapod robot? The big sheet metal contraption with the 2 DOF legs. About 5 years ago, I bought the very last one that they had. It was the unit that they used for photography in their catalogs and advertising, so it was sold to me as "used", but was actually brand new. I am interested in what others might have done with this beast.
It has sat on my dresser in my bedroom, as I have never had the time to use it. Now that I am retired and after much lobbying from my grandson, I have dusted it off and have started to play with it. It came with twelve servos for the legs. I just recently bought a Pololu servo control board and have it installed.
Now I have to decide what I am going to control this with. Eventually I want it to be autonomous, but first I have to just get it to walk. At first, I will use a BOE and BS2 just to play with walking. After that, I want more power so I will most likely use a Rpi 3 or maybe an 8085 SBC... or maybe both. What I am thinking now is that the BOE and BS2 will be used for controlling the legs, which itself will get commands from the pi or 8085, which itself will get its instruction from a wireless connection.
Any thoughts?
Best,
J
Comments
BlocklyProp graphical programming on Chromebook, Windows, or Mac
Text-based C programming on Windows or Mac
8-core Propeller microcontroller & 64 KB EEPROM
RF module socket with WiFi support — experiment with wireless communication and debugging
microSD card holder — log sensor data or play WAV files
Mini TRRS audio/video jack — listen to WAV files, synthesized speech, or output Propeller-generated video
3-pin headers — quickly connect servos, sensors, serial LCDs, etc.
Breadboard — build and rebuild circuits without soldering
A/D and D/A converters — read or set the voltages for battery monitoring or sensors
Independent switching regulators — 3.3 V, 1.8 A and 5 V, 1.8 A
Power via USB or power supply/battery pack — the choice is yours
A bag of 10 3" jumper wires and four protective rubber feet are included
Here is a photo that I snagged from the Crustcrawler website of the hex crawler that I have.
It has long been discontinued, and it is big and clunky, but it also has lots of space to mount boards and accessories. So far, I have a Pololu (sp?) servo controller and a BOE attached to it. I will probably use something other than the BOE to control the walking.
My machine, like this photo has the 2DOF legs, not the three.
https://forums.parallax.com/utility/thumbnail/122463/FileUpload/4d/62811ffe03c73e2ee968c092184d52.jpg
Best,
J
Some of you might have noticed that I seem to like old and obsolete and generally unavailable technology...
FORTH, Javelin, BSLA, 8085 programming, etc and etc.
Sorry for the double post.
J