Playing with a different breed
For awhile ago I got lucky and won a TRC contest. Due to some production issues the prize became very delayed. Making a long story short I finally got the prize at January this year. It was worth the waiting though, since TR was kind enough to send me a 18x AX-18A based PhantomX hexapod robot!
To be honest, my first impression of how it performed using the standard code was not good. The overall performance couldn’t match the Phoenix hexapod. Especially when it comes to smooth movement.
Luckily, my friend Kurt Eckhardt had just bought a PhantomX. Since we both have a lot of experience of working with Jeroen Janssen’s (aka Xan) Phoenix code written for Basic Atom Pro microcontroller, it became more natural to continue using this code. When it comes to programming, my skills are very far from either Kurt or Jeroen’s skills, but I love to play along! So it was a great relief that Kurt decided to port the original Phoenix code over to C for making it work on the ArbotiX board. You can read about Kurt’s work in this thread. I’ve had a lot of fun playing along!
Oh, one thing. I can’t say this enough. If there is one person who really deserve lots of credit, my friend Jeroen Janssen is the man! For me this hobby got a lot more interesting from the day he released the Phoenix code.
In Kurt’s thread I posted about some hardware modifications like giving the tibia more freedom and making it easier to replace the LiPo battery. Being able the to replace the battery is very convenient since the AX-18′s drain the battery pretty fast.
One of the first thing that struck my mind when I saw the PhantomX hexapod is that it is 100% symmetric. That combined with the servos 300 deg of travel range made it a perfect for upside down walking. By adding a sensor (accelerometer) it became a relative easy task.
A few days ago I managed to fix the balance mode. While doing this I was visiting my parents who live in the wilderness (more or less.. LOL). You see, the balance mode combined with tripple 16 gait (a modified tripod gait) make the robot very capable for crawling outdoor without the need for any sensors on the legs. So I decide to take the hex into the forest for some pics:
PhantomX together with the XBee based DIY remote:
After playing in the forest for a little while I decided to shoot a new video. (Official youtube video).
Enjoy!
[...] PhantomX terrain walking A demonstration of the Trossen Robotics PhantomX hexapod robot. Runs the original Phoenix hexapod code written by Jeroen Janssen. The code has been ported to C (Arduino environment) by Kurt Eckhardt. Modified, tuned and tweaked by Kåre Halvorsen aka Zenta. Filed under: robotics — by adafruit, posted August 15, 2012 at 6:33 am Comments (0) Try Adafruit's new iPhone & iPad app for makers! Circuit Playground! "Incredibly handy for anyone working in electronics. Perfect for engineers and non-engineers alike." Looking for engineers, makers and the builders of dreams? Try our Adafruit job boards. Join our weekly Adafruit SHOW-AND-TELL at 9:30pm ET every Saturday night! Then at 10pm, ASK-AN-ENGINEER with Ladyada and the Adafruit team! hr{display:none} .in_the_store{background-image: url("https://www.adafruit.com/includes/templates/adafruit/images/side_back.jpg"); background-repeat: repeat-x;width:634px;border: 1px solid #CCCCCC; float:left;} In the Adafruit Store: Soldering iron stand Small push-pull solenoid Adafruit MENTA – Mint Tin Arduino Compatible Kit with Mint Tin [...]
[...] Zenta and Kurt Eckhardt are at it again, this time porting the Lynxmotion Phoenix code to our very own PhantomX Hexapod! Running the Phoenix code, our Hexapod’s movements are [...]
Hi! I'm just getting started with hexapods. I was wondering if the C ports of the code are avalible publically and if so, where. Assuming the code is public, I also am wondering under which liscence it is released. I'd like to adapt it to run on my platform (a Hexy with a ROS/rospy/Django-based controller), and as part of this, I'd probably upload the code or a modified version to Github unless instructed otherwise.
Thanks for your time and inspiration. Your youtube videos got me interested in hexapods to begin with.
~Will