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Lynxmotion Hexapod

Larger Picture of Hexapod (with component comments)

I made this robot right after I got bored with Newt. I obtained a hexapod kit from Lynxmotion (www.lynxmotion.com). The Lynxmotion kit is pricey, but making a hexapod from scratch was not what I was wanting to do at this point. When I got it put together, I was concerned that the logic to move all those servos was sapping nearly all my code space for the Stamp. I decided to bring Newt the Roller's electronics over and put them on the hexapod. That ended up being a kewl thing. A dual stamp operation really works well. The first stamp controls the servo controllers and leg motion (forward, backward, manis, spider, left, right, standing) and the second stamp uses the IR input for autonomous behavior. I used Don Roy's code (IR Remote) to program the second stamp to recognize TV Remote signals and now I can move the hex around the house by remote.

In autonomous mode, it has enough CPU power to react to its environment a little better. For instance, if it detects a sudden dual proximity threat from the front, it goes into its mantis stance (threat pose) and then backs away. It is pretty kewl and scares the hell out of dogs and humans alike (humans always like to stick their leg in front of the receiver to see if the 'bot will turn - if they put it directly in front, Newt will now go into a threat pose. Makes 'em jump!)

Larger Picture of Hexapod Under Threat

I also modified the walking code for the robot from the examples that come with the unit. I used Chris Kline's code (nsm4h2.bs2) and some of my own to smooth out continuous motion when the 'bot is walking. Want to know more? Email me at dcreagan@scholars.bellevue.edu and I'll answer any questions.

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