Melanie v1.0 
Robust Hexapod Robot of 3 dof/leg.

by Alejandro Alonso-Puig
March 2.004
mundobot.com

 

Melanie is an hexapod robot of 3 degrees of freedom by leg, that by the novel design of legs which it has, can transport several kilograms on its body without excessive power overload.

The version 1.0 that is in this technical report refers the simplest version of the implementation of the robot, in which the robot is connected to an external PC by serial port (RS232C) for its control by a Visual C++ application.

There is a version 2.0 with superior capacities. Complete information could be obtained here: Melanie v2.0

Some basic characteristics that define Melanie v1.0 are the following ones:

  • Size (cm): 33 x 31 x 12 
  • Weight: 2,2Kg
  • Six legs
  • Three degrees of freedom per leg
  • Driven by radio control servos (Twelve of 3kgcm and six of 5kgcm)
  • "smoothed" Control of servos by using a driver with speed management.
  • Communication with master PC by serial port RS232C
  • Distance measurement infrared sensor located at the front and able to be oriented
  • Structure of PVC and Aluminum
  • Battery of 6v NiMH 3300mAh for the servos
  • Battery of 9v NiMH for the control electronics
  • Control program in PC developed in Visual C++ 6.0

In this work there will be mention to all the mechanical, electronic and programming aspects, as well as conclusions of the experience.

 


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Agricultural Entomology. Daniel G. Pesante Armstrong. Chapter 7: http://www.uprm.edu/wciag/anscience/dpesante/4008/cap-7.PDF
Puchobot. Quadruped Robot. Andrés Prieto Moreno: http://www.iearobotics.com/personal/andres/proyectos/pucho/pucho.html
Legs. General design considerations: http://www.frasco.demon.co.uk/rodney/mechan/design.htm
The Walking Machines Catalogue: http://www.walking-machines.org/
Silo4. Quadruped Robot developed by CSIC. Spain: http://www.iai.csic.es/users/silo4/
MSCC20. credit card-sized control computers for driving up to 20 R/C servos. Oricom Technologies: http://www.oricomtech.com/svo-cc.htm
CSerialPort v1.03 - Serial Port Wrapper. PJ Naugter:
http://www.codeproject.com/system/cserialport.asp

 

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