These days any robotics hobbyist has a lot of options to learn how to build robots, so many that sometimes it’s easy to get lost in details. This is not the case of the Stubby hexapod, an open-source project with a modular design, several control methods, and a body that can be replicated using different materials.
The hexapod is a do-it-yourself robot designed by Wyatt Olson together with a small team of young engineers aiming to teach them the importance of electronics and programming, as well as how to build robots from scratch.
In the context of an open-source project, several other hackers worldwide took the files and built their version of the robot using different materials for body structure and adding new features.
The creative process takes a lot of time and this can be seen in the latest version of the robot which is featured with a mechanically-assisted 3 DOF per leg, Inverse Kinematic engine, or API to control the robot from different sources.
The hexapod can walk in any direction, rotate, pitch; it can move slowly or quickly, as well as having a body translation along both X and Y axes. All of these things are manually controlled using an old PS2 controller while the servos are controlled with an ATMega 1284 microcontroller.
You have to pay $150 if you want to replicate this project with the same components, but only if you have all required tools already in your tools box.
The Stubby hexapod can be transformed completely with additional sensors, and with few programming skills, it can run fully autonomously.
For complete instructions visit the digitalcave and hackaday sites.