Robotics

By Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. And he has a new best-of writing collection and “lazy man’s memoir,” called Borg Like Me.

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Man, check this beast out, from a builder in Norway. Looks like it might be built around the Lynxmotion Hexapod Phoenix.

A-Pod is an ant inspired hexapod robot with a 2 DOF abdomen (tail), a 3 DOF head with large mandibles. 6 legs with 3 DOF each. Total 25 servos. This video demonstrates body movement and mandible control. I still have to do some mechanical improvements to the legs (therefore little walking). The robot are remotely controlled with a custom 2,4 GHz RC transmitter.

A-Pod part 1 [Via Serge Wroclawski on the HacDC elist]

16 thoughts on “Amazing ant-inspired robot”

  3. “Looks like it might be built around the Lynxmotion Hexapod Phoenix.”

    Actually, this A-Pod is built by Zenta whose earlier hexapod inspired the Lynxmotion Phoenix. IIRC, Zenta worked with Lynxmotion to create the Phoenix kit based on his designs. I’m not involved in this in any way, I’m just a fan of Zenta’s work and I’d like to see him get the props he deserves.

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  4. But I would like to point out that the guy who built this is the same guy that made the phoenix (KÃ¥re Halvorsen/Zenta) and it was so popular on the forums that Lynxmotion decided to make a kit out of it..

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  6. Thanks for that background info, folks. I don’t know if this is a projected kit, but how cool if it is. That’d definitely go on MY Christmas list!

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  7. So, it has some very fluid motion when holding the head still, but when it walks it is very rigid. Why not implement the same fluid motion for something useful like walking or better yet, running.

    And, it can pick up a battery, but can it replace it’s own battery. So it’s cool, but I got bored about a quarter of the way through the video.

    I wonder how strong are those pinchers! How about breaking the glass cup after it pours the water out.

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By Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. And he has a new best-of writing collection and “lazy man’s memoir,” called Borg Like Me.

View more articles by Gareth Branwyn