The Phoenix spider-bot I mentioned earlier this year is now available as a (rather expensive) kit!
The kit costs $US949.99 ex shipping, which would be outrageous if all you got were the mechanical parts and R/C gear. But you also get a pre-programmed microcontroller that ties the bot's actions together, allowing you to control it with a wireless PlayStation controller, which is also included.
So it's not a Crabfu-type "robo-puppet", where leg movement is tied directly to stick movement. It's more like a normal radio-controlled walker, but with far more freedom of motion, including a variety of gaits.
And it can still play with boxes.
19 November 2008 at 3:32 pm
Nice. A hexapod robot is definately one of those projects that I want to do someday.
The kit is pricey no doubt, but the "brains" already on the microcontroller is worth a lot. There is no way I could do the required inverse kinematics.
If you are just looking for a hardware kit, there is this MSR-H01 Hexapod Robot Kit, but of course you need to add your own servos and brain.
One day!
19 November 2008 at 4:36 pm
Well, I know what I want for x-mas now.
19 November 2008 at 4:39 pm
Woah...I want one...No, TWO! And...Wait...No, I don't want any! They'll start killing people and reproducing! They're Replicators!
20 November 2008 at 7:23 am
I really, really need to put a cat near one of those.