Quadruped Robot
By far my longest project, I started working on this spider-like quadruped robot in high school. I have continued to update and transform it over the past few years, slowly improving its electrical, mechanical, and software systems. I have even made a full 3D simulation for kinematics testing from scratch in processing 3D.
The design for this robot is unique. It is about a meter tall and has a very wide leg base. The servos are custom built, DC motors generate the torque, and the angular position is measured by potentiometers. This information is fed into a microcontroller running 12 different PID loops, one for each joint. The gearing is all custom and is a mix of machined and 3D printed components. All the PCBs on the robot were custom designed specifically for this project.
Two different PCBs I designed for this project. On the left the old PCBs which used stacked Arduino Nanos and L298n motor drivers, and on the right an updated electronics PCB using a Teensy 3.6 and DRV8873 motor driver ICs.
The Result:
Better than imagined.
As a final page in this project's history, I reprinted it all in black and donned it as a halloween costume in 2023. I went as a spider.
I won $50 so I think it was all worth it.