Rideable Hexapod (aka spiderbot or hexabot or whatever). Anyway, I want.

Step A. KISS. Clone someone else’s work on a linkage hexapod.

~$ git clone git@instructables.com:Hexabot-Build-a-heavy-duty-six-legged-robot/

haha I wish hardware was as easy as software to duplicate.


  1. Acquire materials
    1. Steel stock
      1. Turner Steel (carpool with someone)
        1. 60 feet of 1″ square steel tubing, 0.065″ wall ~$72
        2. 20 feet of 2″ x 1″ square rectangular steel tubing, 0.065″ wall ~$37
        3. Directions
        4. (508) 583-7800 –inquire about cost for delivery to MIT, also hours
      2. Inquire from the Central Machine Shop, bldg 38-001
  2. Apply CAD (scale up, can motors handle? torque calcs?)
  3. Apply controller to motors (make original one? probably stick with relays)
    1. schematic
  4. Learn welding (MIG or TIG)
  5. Build build build
Oh, right, youtube research: (specifically for this kind of linkage-based rideable hexapod)
Look it’s bicycle powered http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJY1fqzuqL0
Look it’s wheelchair motor x2 powered http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuRT9gC0CGs

in the meantime, I learned a bit of serial by asking Leighton, a hallmate, so now I understand the pololu code. But I still don’t understand why it’s sad. Yay I kept thinking it was something with the code, and I couldn’t find my cute tiny 2.007 battery to try . But I tried something I knew wouldn’t work, and it worked! yay. will post in pololu forums to make it more findable.