Walking Bug
A robot with servo-powered legs
Published in issue 340, February 2005
Making a robot walk instead of drive around on wheels can be a daunting task. The author of this Walking Bug came up with a remarkably simple solution. Although our robot does not stand upright on two legs, it can actually walk using just two servos and a minimumamount of electronics. The power of the design is, of course, found in the combination of these two elements. The servos make the ‘natural’ movement needed here: just back and forth. As an advantage over other actuators, they can be directly driven by a microcontroller, which saves us a lot of driver and interfacing electronics. The mechanical construction of the Walking Bug is also relatively simple, the ‘legs’ being secured directly to the servo spindles. Resistors:
R1 = 10kOhm
R2,R3 = 1kOhm5
Capacitors:
C1,C3,C4 = 100nF
C2 = 10µ F 16V radial
Semiconductors:
D1, D2 = LED, low-current, 3mm
IC1 = AT90S2313-10PI
Miscellaneous:
X1 = 4MHz ceramic resonator
K2 = 5-way SIL pinheader
K3,K4 = 3-way SIL pinheader
S1, S2 = miniature microswitch, (e.g., MBF5B, Conrad Electronics # 704571)
2 servos
2 battery holders for 2 AAA batteries
PCB, ref. 040071-1
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Click below to download a PDF copy of this article from Elektor magazine. Please note. In view of the complexity of international markets, Elektor cannot guarantee the availability of components for this project.
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