Simple Walker Robot

Building a simple walking robot is really easy. Don't let the number of steps fool you into believing otherwise. This robot is basically made with a handful of household items and some simple electronics that you can easily pick up at Radioshack. In fact, this robot is entirely zip tied together, which makes building it and modding it extremely easy. If at any point you are unhappy with how its built, cut the zip ties away and zip tie it together differently.

The "brains" of this robot are also easily modifiable since it is based on an Arduino development board. Programming it and changing the code is extremely straight-forward. Even people with no programming experience can usually get up to speed pretty quickly and start coding their own robotic routines.

For me, this robot was mainly an experiment to see what would happen if I built a full-on robot that was like one of the many Simple Bots that I have built. It was interesting to see how much more robust one of these creatures become when you give it some computer logic.

Step 1: Go get stuff

You will need:

(x4) Rubber spatulas
(x2) 6" turnbuckles
(x1) 2" x 48" aluminum ruler
(x1) Ballpoint pen
(x1) 4-40 x 1/4" nut and bolt
(x1) Arduino Uno REV 3 (Radioshack #276-128)
(x2) Parallax 4-6VDC Standard Servo (Radioshack #273-441)
(x2) 3x1 male header pins (strips of 40 available in Radioshack #277-077)
(x1) Parallax Ping Sensor (Radioshack #276-136)
(x1) Heavy-Duty 9V Snap Connectors (Radioshack #270-324)
(x1) 9-Volt Battery Holder (Radioshack #270-326)
(x1) Size M Coaxial DC Power Plug (Radioshack #274-1569)
(x1) Multipurpose PC Board with 417 Holes (Radioshack #276-150)
(x1) 90-Ft. UL-Recognized Hookup Wire (Radioshack #278-1221)
(x1) Enercell® Alkaline 9 Volt Battery (Radioshack #25-853)
(x1) 5-1/2" Zip Ties (Radioshack #278-1631)

Comments

[sanjay satheesh]

cooooooooooooool.

[AT908]

I'm very new to electronics and especially arduino, and i'm having trouble finding '3x1 male header pins' in the UK.
Are they known as something else? Can someone point me in the right direction please?
I apologise if this is a really n00b question, just bear with me i'm learning hah.

[randofo]

They are usually sold in long strips and then broken into small bits.

https://www.adafruit.com/products/392

[AT908]

Sorry to be a pain but is this the same thing?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/0.1inch-series-straight-plug-pcb-header-1487

if not, why?

Thanks

[randofo]

No. That type has that plastic side wall. That might interfere with the servos being plugged in... or it might not... hard to say.

I'd try to find one without the side wall.

[ride on toy dude]

So I got an Arduino and I want to build a walker like this but with one servo instead of two. (That's all I have. :I) I was also going to use two antennae instead of a ping sensor. What do you think would be the best way to go about building it with one servo. (It would have a tail that drags.) I have built one with the servo mounted in the front but it tipped crazily from side to side while moving forward.
Any ideas?

[rimar2000]

Randy, you're world famous!

http://www.nopuedocreer.com/quelohayaninventado/21543/el-simpatico-robot-con-patas-de-espatula/

[freeza36]

that he is

[Bianca Casanova]

vc pode me ajudar com meu projeto?

[Untold]

I am so excited by this, I have been meaning to play with Arduino for ages. It will be my first robot! Parts are on order!

[bajablue]

OMG... it's the legendary Spatula Foot!!! ;-D

Excellent work, Randofo!!!

[Fuzzy-Wobble]

'spatula bot'

[lumi3005]

Haha, cool little walker. Well done!

[HollyMann]

My son will love this. He loves Robots and would be so happy to create one. I have no experience at all - so this is perfect. Thanks!

[randofo]

You should check out Simple Bots. They are about as easy to make as this one and don't require any programming, so are a little easier to get started with.

If he ends up making something, please do post a picture.

[HollyMann]

Thank you SO much! I will check it out now. :) I will definitely post a picture once it's done..this sounds like a good project to do this weekend...my son is 7 but really smart so whatever I don't understand, he'll figure it out!

[vaporizer]

If I squint my eyes at this then I can imagine these things strolling down the street - like a non-threatening version of the "War of the Worlds" with their cute pink feet.

[Lindie]

Maybe in the Spatula Bot movie; right, Randy?

Nice job!

[AntzyP]

liked your smile at 0:52... :D

-Antzy

[The Cartographer]

And very professional video too.

[The Cartographer]

You have my vote

[rimar2000]

MARVELOUS Randy!

Can you make it to walk faster? I think it might be a good joke, many people would be scared to see it come unexpectedly.

[randofo]

Yes. It can go faster. At some point I just set it to that speed for testing, and never changed it. I should reprogram it to go faster.

[rimar2000]

Please, do it and post a video! With your girlfriend, mom or aunt being surprised by it...

[WWC]

Great use of common items. Sometime i try to over think a project and it gets to complicated. Thats why the zip ties ect are such a great idea. I see an industrial version used in the baking industries for robotic bowl scrapers. Joking of course.

[iceng]

Impressive Engineering use of of non-robotic components.

LIKE :¬|)     A

[caitlinsdad]

You should ask scooch to add some ribbons on the feet paddles. They look like a ballerina-bot. Does it do a pirouette? Dancing with the robots?

[randofo]

Not yet. Working on version 2.