Phoenix Hexapod

[gfish]

My RC hexapod arrived last week, and I assembled it over the weekend.

The servos still need some fine calibration, but it works quite well even as it is. It's a very nice design, and while maybe not worth what I paid for it in any rational sense, I don't regret the purchase. Most importantly, it will serve its intended purpose as a research platform nicely. Because, see, I want to build another one.

I want to build one I can ride on. And I've almost convinced myself that this is feasible. Stay tuned...

Comments

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

I can see one reason for using all those degrees of freedom would be to get it to move while giving the driver a survivably smooth ride. The spider looked fun, but I can see how any speed would shake the driver pretty badly.

[gfish.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm curious to see how jarring the ride is when scaled up. Only one way to find out! It. Won't ever be going that fast, though I'll be tempted to see if I can get some obscure land speed record if it works at all.

18DoF will also allow it to do thing like turn in place, have adjustable stride lengths, multiple gauge to choose from, body height adjustment (great for watching the Burn over the crowd!), and a dance mode. Cause, well, why not? It's just a button on the console and some code at that point. Imagine pulling up to a rave out of a duststorm on one, and then the whole contraption starts bouncing and twisting in time with the music. Legendary.

[keystricken.livejournal.com]

It already looks like a dancer on pointe shoes, at least when it lifts itself up to its full height. Could I interest you in a techno remix of Swan Lake?

This is amazing work, by the way. I can't wait to see more.