Meet Squidword

[darkback2]

Squidword is a scratch built robot that has been building up inside me for a while. I was looking for a way to satisfy two needs. One is that I wanted a competent humanoid, and the other was to make a bracket system that I could use pretty much universally for all future walkers. I missed the boat with the humanoid. It was simply too heavy for the class of servos that I had on hand. As for the bracket system, I believe that squidword is testimony to its success.






I built a stand for Squidword. It really helps out with creating the gates. I didn't think I would have to do any welding when I got into walkers, but I got out old sparky and got to work. The stand is sturdy as heck...So check it out. I'll post the plans on how to make it for anyone interested in making a squidword. Its made using 1 1/4 inch square tube and extruded aluminum.







There are only a few basic types of bracket in the system. Double servo brackets, single servo brackets, and several types of hinges. Using the bracket system I can make servo brackets for as little as a dollar a pound for aluminum.

This project submission is three part. I’ve uploaded the PDF files for making this robot, as well as a tutorial on how to build this robot. I'm also working on MAX based software that anyone can use to control a robot using an SSC-32. I've already uploaded the base program. The software I am currently working on expands that so that a person can make a series of walk cycles and store them in the software calling them up later.

One thing that really excites me about squidword is that he is completely symetrical. I can use that so that by simply assigning the legs different values I can adapt any walk cycle to make him walk in almost any direction.

I had to make some changes to the software, and it took me a while to solve a couple of problems. The software has a bunch of dials each connected to a servo. You can set the position of the dials, and store them as a part of a sequence. Then you can select a counter which will step through the sequenced poses...creating a gate.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xFH1h0GGp4"]YouTube - Using Mechmover[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kviFk1DT_0k&feature=channel_page"]YouTube - Using Mechmover[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Nt8DqP9OOo"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Nt8DqP9OOo[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPCw1PvO6GE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPCw1PvO6GE[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sDc0knUbCE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sDc0knUbCE[/ame]


Enjoy.

Tutorial

[gdubb2]

Very nicely done..Good job..
Gary

[darkback2]

Very nicely done..Good job..
Gary

Thanks for the kind words.

For anyone interested I updated the post and will adding pictures of the stand I made and a youtube video explaining how to use mechmover.

DB

[jes1510]

Outstanding work man!

[darkback2]

I updated the first post with a new video.

[nagmier]

nice vid, with no audio, there is a NASTY High pitch squeal. But with mute on its fantastic!

[darkback2]

the high pitched squeel is the sound the digital servos make. Squidword has 4 hs 5990s now which are what are providing the necessary torque to carry around that big lunk of a brain. PC based robotics is great...if you don't mind the weight!

ok...that was cheezy.

I'm hoping to have a vid of a live fire test for both squidword and charlie by the end of the week.

DB

[nagmier]

Ahhh I'm too cheap to buy digital servos

Still great work!

[darkback2]

I'm like the king of cheap...or was. Basically I was, and still for the ankle servos using MG 995s...Here is the deal though. Half of the MG 995s I got didn't work out of the box. A number of other ones overheated and caught on fire...and the rest, have been troopers. While I agree with you, and find it difficult to justify spending the serious dough people spend on high end servos, I realized that I was spending a lot of money trying to be cheap.

I settled on this. Every month for the next year or so (next month excluded) I will buy one expensive servo. My family already knows...christmas...my birthday...servos! The set of expensive servos will be what I use to build up squidword, and possibly will be stripped out to build another robot. The point being that I'm not going to spend 2 or 3 grand at once, but instead will relax and realize things like this take time. You could also just start a savings account, and put $100 in a month or so so that at the end of the year you could buy a bunch of servos all at once.

The second thing is, the digital servos hs 5995s are the only things strong enough to support the weight of the computer without using a lever system.

Given all of the above, spending $500 or so on 4 of them seamed like a nice compromise. I used cheaper servos for the rest of the robot, and sprung for the good stuff only where I absolutely had to.

[Connor]

The second thing is, the digital servos hs 5995s are the only things strong enough to support the weight of the computer without using a lever system.

He means HS5990's. The 5995's are disco'd and have issues.. They're strong, but, can overheat and die.. No internal shutdown and no heatsink built into the case.. I'm upgrading 4 of my 5995's in my mech to 5990's for this very reason.

Thanks, Connor