K'nex Walking Robot Creature Component

Introduction: K'nex Walking Robot Creature Component

About: Co-owner of Reach and Teach - Books, Toys, and Gifts

Based upon and inspired by the Knex-o-saurus construction kit, I wanted to create a robot creature walking component that instead used a standard motor and commonly available K'nex parts. What resulted is this robot creature that you can easily build upon to make your own creation. It's movement can be easily hand tuned but in its current form, it definitely displays it's own unique character as you can see in the video. Hope you like this and build it yourself.

Step 1: Parts Required for This Build

Step 2: Motor Chassis, Shaft, and Support for Rear Legs

Step 3: Leg Components

Step 4: Full Leg Assembly

The back and front leg assemblies are connected with a white rod, blue spacer, and two black snap caps.

Step 5: This Is What You Have So Far

At this point you have two leg assemblies and a motor chassis. In the next step, we will connect all of this together.

Step 6: Install the Legs Onto the Motor Chassis

The legs are installed by snapping the grey two way connector of the leg assembly onto the red rod that passes through the motor. The rear red rod passes through the center hole of the yellow 5-way connector and is anchored with a black snap cap. TIP: Install the two gray connectors at different angles to change how the mechanical creature moves.

Step 7: ...And We're Done!

This component is a great basis for a variety of robotic creatures. Please share with me how you use it!

1 Person Made This Project!

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5 Comments

0
gabriel.ridderheim
gabriel.ridderheim

Question 2 years ago

I managed to build mine and the reason why I'm saying I managed is because I don't have the type of black connectors. Also, once I built it I was experiencing that one set of the legs was crooked. Is there a way to fix it?

0
reachandteach
reachandteach

Reply 2 years ago

hmmm... happy to look at it if you either attach an image so I can see
what you mean by "crooked" or (if you are near San Mateo, CA) feel free
to drop on by our shop.

0
scottz32
scottz32

Question 3 years ago on Introduction

I made it and it is constantly turning left.. is there a way to fix this?

0
reachandteach
reachandteach

Answer 3 years ago

Hi there, thanks for the question. The direction this construction walks is determined by the angle that the two grey two way connectors are attached to the front legs in Step 5 and Step 8. If you install them at the same angle, the unit will walk forward with an ape-like motion. If you install them 180 degrees apart, the assembly will move forward in a normal walking motion. Other angles will cause other turning behavior.