Walker

From BEAM Robotics Wiki

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• A legged robot that moves from one place to another by lifting and shifting the position of its legs in a controlled sequence.

There are a large number of walking BEAM robots around (you have to admit, they just plain look neat!). The simplest is based on a single motor, two legs, and a little "idler" wheel that is dragged along behind (see Wilf's uCrawler for more details).

The most common design by far is some variation or another on a theme -- a 4-legged, 2-motor robot. These rely on a clever balance, and inter-motor timing to create a walking gait.

Less-common, but increasingly popular, are walkers with 3, 4, or even more motors. Obviously, the more motors a walker has, the more varied its behavior can be (but along with this comes an increase in both mechanical and electronic complexity, as well as cost).

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[edit] Walker Types

By Leg Count	By Leg Count	Special Configurations
2-Legged Walkers 4-Legged Walkers 6-Legged Walkers 8-Legged Walkers	1-Motor Walkers 2-Motor Walkers 3-Motor Walkers 4-Motor Walkers 5-Motor Walkers 9-Motor Walkers	Crawlers

[edit] Walker Tutorials

• Andrew Miller's 2-Motor Walker Tutorial
• Control of 2-motor Walkers
• Freeform Microcore Walker Tutorial

• Walker tutorial video Posted to youtube by "Metalskull Robotics"

[edit] Leg Mechanisms

• Build a Better Leg
• Droidmakr's Jogger-Dog Leg
• Droidmakr's Simple 2 Motor Leg
• Droidmakr's Spider Leg
• Equalizing Leg Swing (Mechanical Method)