Halloween Hex

I want to replace the video under the project "DETAILS" with a more recent video so I'm moving the "First Walk" video here.

I've been working on the programming of the hexapod a lot lately but I don't have anything to show for my efforts yet.

One thing I've learned it I need to use locktite on nuts and bolts holding this thing together. It doesn't take long for the machine screws to come loose as the hexapod walks.

My robot finally has eyes!

There were several additions to the code I needed to make to get the eyes to work the way I wanted. One challenge was coding the four servos. The servos pretty much point the eyes in the direction the robot is walking. The eyes initially start looking up but as they move to the side they also move down a bit.

This video is also used in the "DETAILS" section.

Besides controlling four more servos, I also needed to write code to display the eyes on the LED arrays. The LED arrays are from ICStation. The LED arrays use a MAX7219 controller.

The time between blinks is a random about between set maximum and minimum times. The speed of the blink is also random. There's a 10% chance a blink will be a double blink.

I'd really like to get the eyes to respond to the environment. Ideally, I'd like a sensor which could detect the location of humans and have the robot respond to the humans' presence. I have a couple ideas on how to do this.

As I mention in the video, I need to get the switch and battery tucked away into better locations.

I think the eyes give the robot a lot more personality and I like how they look so far. I got the idea of using the LED arrays as eyes from a fellow member of Let's Make Robots, Dickel.

I've started working on this project again.

I just added a long list of tasks towards building the robot.

I made some progress on getting the eyes to display eye animations. The eye servos are connected and are powered but so far they are held in their center position.

I've made some progress towards taming the "bucking" observed in the first walk video.

I'm hopeful I'll have this robot in a "presentable" state within a few days.