Make a real (cheap) hexapod !

Have you ever drooled over those cool, dancing hexapods ? Gotta have it – right?
Then you looked at the price and …well…maybe… not so cool?

Well, read on and you can make it real – a real hexapod for less than a hundred bucks. It uses only three hobby servos, a battery, and a microcontroller of your choice. Construction is mostly wood and glue. It moves forward and backwards and turns left and right.

Here is a video of my hexapod crawler, which I call “Walkin Sticks”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eQiegKdlzc

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Step 1: Two ways to build, or why CAD programs are so useful.

One of my objectives in this project was to create a walking gait in which the “footprints” of all the legs fall in a straight line and not in an arc, as an oar in a row boat traces on the water surface. To do this, I used a 2D CAD program to test out some ideas as shown in the photo above. My apologies for the black background. I spent several hours trying to remove it but no joy.

This “in-line” method allows walking on carpet without drag and strain on the servos. If you plan to only operate on smooth surfaces and do not need this feature, you could greatly simplify the construction.

billbillt says: Jan 7, 2013. 7:14 AM

I always use the black background in AutoCad...I feel it is easier on the eyes...Great Job!.....

MarcoAndrade.1980 says: May 18, 2012. 6:58 PM

Please please please send dimensions or cad files! I'd love to build one of these!

balline (author) in reply to MarcoAndrade.1980May 19, 2012. 1:51 PM

Marco,

Send me your email address and I will send you the Autocad files.

piyush23 in reply to ballineNov 17, 2012. 6:08 AM

please also send to me the dimensions and card file.email add piyush55sharma@gmail.com

MarcoAndrade.1980 in reply to ballineMay 19, 2012. 2:10 PM

MarcoAndrade.1980@gmail.com

Thanks so much!

randomray says: Oct 7, 2012. 9:23 AM

Very cool great job .

mr tech says: May 17, 2012. 4:58 AM

Very nice design, looks awesome. Do you have the CAD files posted anywhere?
I'm also wondering how well it would work built out of lightweight metal. Do you think the servo could handle more weight or would it need to be replaced with something a bit heavier?

Thanks for sharing.

balline (author) in reply to mr techMay 17, 2012. 4:11 PM

Yes, it could be made of aluminum tubing and you could eliminate the brass tubing bearing that wood requires. You may need more torque for the rocker servo since it does all the lifting. Standard servos should work fine for swinging the legs. The one I made weighs 28 oz.

The cad drawings that I have done are merely studies of various geometries and were not meant as construction drawings. The are in Autocad 14. I can send them to you if you like.

Thanks for your comments.