Tips on building a walker

[Omikron]

There are a lot of tips on how to build a transmission, suspension, gearbox, car, steering etc.

I'm investigating basic and advanced tips on building walkers. Like: how to move legs, what torque is better for such mechanism, what motors are better suitable for this task and etc. There is most likely one problem I'm most interested in - weight.

How to make a heavy walker. If I split this problem in separate categories there will be : 1.weight 2.torque 3.motor damage.

In order to "walk" the walker must have half of it's legs on the ground and be able to lift whole weight of chassis, motors, battery and other parts, while moving forward leg/legs that are suspended in the air.

Is there any strong enough build that will lift 0,5/1/2/ kg from the ground?

Edited August 6, 2014 by Omikron

[Bzroom]

I used 2 XL motors, 2 worm gears and 24t, connected to a 2L crank. So it could only lift each side 2 studs, but it hand plenty of torque to lift more than 2kg.

[TechnicHead41]

Hello Omnikron.

Take a look on some of mine walkers here:

http://www.mocpages.com/mocs.php?id=10175

[Omikron]

Hello Omnikron.

Take a look on some of mine walkers here:

http://www.mocpages....cs.php?id=10175

That's brilliant! How does the blue walker lifts it's legs? I can't figure it out by pictures.

Edited August 6, 2014 by Omikron

[Zerobricks]

How many legs are we talking about?

[Omikron]

How many legs are we talking about?

4

In a configuration , like this

Edited August 6, 2014 by Omikron

[Marcel1980]

Well i was looking in that too! But i want to move only one leg at the time.

[Kelkschiz]

Have you seen the castle walker build by Mahjqa? http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=98112

[BusterHaus]

Hi Omikron,

From my experience, four-legged walkers are very jerky and unstable if they have a long stride, making them more likely to tip over. If you want the walker to have a smooth(er) walking motion, consider a short stride.

As far as motors go, you can pretty much use anything you like as long as it's geared low enough to move the legs. I've used a 2838 motor (very weak) to move bipeds in the past. It was geared down drastically, but it worked. The heaviest biped I've built to date (around 1.2 kg?) was with Mindstorms EV3 components and it had very little gearing besides the internals of the motors.

The gearing will affect how fast your walker travels, but since you're planning to make a large one, I would put the walking speed at the end of the priority list. Make sure your walking motion is smooth, make sure the walker doesn't tip when it stands on three or two legs, and worry about the speed last. You can always put in a bigger motor later.