3D designLike many people I have ideas about things I'd like to build or invent. I even had a little book filled with sketches of my ideas but I was painfully aware I couldn't actually create any of them. Have you ever seen a commercial advertising to "inventors" where a man states "The Clapper! That was my idea! Why, oh why, didn't I get a patent?!" Let's leave the topic of obvious, intellectually corrupt "idea" patents alone for now and agree that it's not enough just to have an idea, one must be able to bring that idea to life. The man couldn't have invented the Clapper because he couldn't have built it - that would require working knowledge of electronic design and (I suspect) band-pass filters as well as a lab to build a prototype in.
To build new, interesting, and useful things one needs skills in several fields. So, my goal with this project is to learn everything necessary to build the robot and, by extension, other things I might want to build in the future. Of course, if I had just wanted a hexapod I would have bought one from Lynxmotion - but that's not the point at all. Robotics fascinates me because it's an intersection of mechanical engineering, electronic design and software development. I have a degree in Computer Science, but my limited knowledge of mechanical engineering, computer design, micro controller programming, and electronics is entirely self taught. I've found I learn much more quickly when I have a concrete goal to work towards, so that's what this robot is to me - an excuse to learn.
I bought the robot design from Phil at PDJ Inc. and will modify it where I find appropriate. The model above was created from the 2D CAD drawings on the CD from PDJ. I wanted to ensure everything fit together properly and made sense - plus, it was a good exercise in learning something about 3D modeling. I'm building the robot out of quarter inch ABS sheet on my CNC mill. Modifications I'll have to perform include splitting the body sections into multiple pieces due to the smaller size of my mill, modifying the toes to not be so "hook" like and adding supports in a few areas. My ultimate goal for the project is to enable the robot to operate wirelessly over a 2GHz RS-232 bridge and to include a controllable wireless camera.
To build new, interesting, and useful things one needs skills in several fields. So, my goal with this project is to learn everything necessary to build the robot and, by extension, other things I might want to build in the future. Of course, if I had just wanted a hexapod I would have bought one from Lynxmotion - but that's not the point at all. Robotics fascinates me because it's an intersection of mechanical engineering, electronic design and software development. I have a degree in Computer Science, but my limited knowledge of mechanical engineering, computer design, micro controller programming, and electronics is entirely self taught. I've found I learn much more quickly when I have a concrete goal to work towards, so that's what this robot is to me - an excuse to learn.
I bought the robot design from Phil at PDJ Inc. and will modify it where I find appropriate. The model above was created from the 2D CAD drawings on the CD from PDJ. I wanted to ensure everything fit together properly and made sense - plus, it was a good exercise in learning something about 3D modeling. I'm building the robot out of quarter inch ABS sheet on my CNC mill. Modifications I'll have to perform include splitting the body sections into multiple pieces due to the smaller size of my mill, modifying the toes to not be so "hook" like and adding supports in a few areas. My ultimate goal for the project is to enable the robot to operate wirelessly over a 2GHz RS-232 bridge and to include a controllable wireless camera.
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