Ken.Do’s hexapod robotics platform
Building walking robots is difficult. In fact, my first robot, a 3-servo hexapod that I named “PegLeg,” only really worked well after I remade it using machine tools, such as a milling machine and lathe.
Since then, I’ve made several other walking ‘bots, and/or remote vehicles depending on how you want to classify them, and it generally seems that getting the mechanics to work well together is the most difficult part. Then again, I’m a mechanical engineer by training, so perhaps it’s simply what I put my effort into, finally being satisfied with the control system working “well enough.”
If, on the other hand, your “thing” is programming and you would rather not fool with getting the mechanical bits, there are other options available. One such robot that caught my eye was this 20″ hexapod robot that can operate as either an 18 degree-of-freedom (DOF) walker, or in 12 DOF mode.
Though the robot comes with “no guarantee of functionality,” it does look quite fetching in red, and I can only imagine how long it would take to design and/or print a frame like this from scratch. If you just want to get your robot working, then something like this could be a good option.
