Hexapod Walker
Hexapod walker that moves using Tripod Gait, the walking pattern of insects.
Cupertino Highschool
Akash B
12
Incoming Senior
3rd Milestone
My third milestone was to make my robot autonomous. After making it move forward figuring out how to make it turn left and right was not too difficult. However there is still the problem that it moves differently on different surfaces. I used the ultrasonic sensor that sends out an imperceptible sound from one side and receives it from the other to measure the distance an obstacle is away from it. The mini servo is coded to look left and right when something is detected 10cm away and very slowly turn to the side that is obstacle free.
2nd Milestone
My second milestone was to complete the wiring and make the hexapod move. I originally had used a raspberry pi but there seemed to be problems with the GPIO pins so I switched to Arduino. I downloaded the IDE for Arduino in the microsoft store and coded the walk of the robot. I did later realize that my Right and Tilt servos was being unresponsive and had to replace it. The next step was to make sure that the servos were not trying to turn more than were supposed so the servo does not have a lot of strain. Eventually it did walk but its grip on the ground was very weak and I used electrical tape to help it a little bit.
1st Milestone
I had to saw a wooden plank 4 by 9 inches, and make a hole 1 by 1/2 inches to mount my mini servo. I was able to make the ehole by drilling and then drum rolling the rest till the size was large enough for the servo. I also had to bend the aluminum legs at 2 different points because if the aluminum was hammered to 90 degrees it would snap. When I used the back side of the hammer to twist the aluminum and I also realized that I could use the back of the hammer to make 90 degree bends that did not snap. After that I just had to drill and mount the servos.
Reflection
BlueStamp was a great learning opportunity especially because of the mistakes and roadbumps I met along the way. Since my Rasberry Pi was not working, I got the opportunity to be introduced to both the Arduino and the Rasberry Pi. I got to learn how to use the Saw, Drill, Solder Iron, and Drum Roll when making the body of my hexapod. Overall, it gave me a lot more confidence in myself and my ability to create things. The Hexapod I built was very basic and when I found out my dad had a drill I have already started planning for a more itricate Hexapod.
MiniPOV
My starter project is the MiniPOV 4 kit from adafruit. It works by lighting up LEDs in a pattern of different colors to paint an 8-pixel image from the after images. The microcontroller stores a programmable image and outputs the pattern the LEDs should up in. The oscillator creates an incremental tick that is used by the microcontroller to light up the LEDs at a constant rate. The Potentiometer controls the frequency of the lights color changes. The Resistors function to prevent the LED burnout. I learned a lot about soldering and that orientation matters after a huge ordeal with one of the LEDs.