Question about walkers

[LN400]

First, I am a complete newbie when it comes to walkers. Second, I have a pretty tall order in mind.

Mods planned on using: IR, KOS, IR Sequencer (alternative to KOS). I am not at all very experienced with any of them although I have some experience with the first 2.

Goals:

- A biped walker capable of crossing uneven terrain up to about 20-ish degree slope.

- Must be capable of turning using servos and KOS alone. Also capable of walking backwards (+ turning).

- Stability provided by the IR servos and KOS/Sequencer alone without any need for reaction wheels.

- Mass kept to a minimum but there must be a one man pod (lander can?) as part of the design. Power and solar panels to drive continously during daylight hours.

Here is where I need all the help and guiding I can get.

I think I'll go with servos on the feet to allow for tilting in all directions for max stability on slopes. Is there any way KOS or any other mod can "sense" the correct tilt angle as the foot moves forward? Any mod that offers pressure/stress sensors?

Are there any KOS/Sequencer scripts for walkers anyone would want to share for me to learn from?

Anything that leaps to mind you think I need to know about or take into consideration (apart from this being madness to begin with).

[Mikki]

Greetings...

Watch some inspiration... https://youtu.be/20Y2SX6UIr4

[LN400]

37 minutes ago, Mikki said:

Watch some inspiration... https://youtu.be/20Y2SX6UIr4

That thing is crazy. Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, there are no clues given on how to control/script it.

[LN400]

After trial and LOTS of errors, it seems that for a biped like I have in mind, there is no way around having a fully fledged hip on this thing. Simple rotation does not give enough control.

Anoter thing is the wobbles. Right now balance is impossible with this much wobble. I use standard size servos and RoboTruss (RoboTubes gave me even worse wobbles). I need to find parts that give less or even no wobbles.

Then it's the issue with mass. Right now the legs are way too heavy for the servos to lift.

Edited September 28, 2017 by LN400

[LN400]

Progress. As part of the dev program, I have created a quad walker that doesn't fall over and that does move forward. It took a bit of planning the leg movements. The movement is an 8 part cycle for something that could pass as a limp animal with its leg in cast. Directional control is not there and it turns to the left by quite a lot for no reason I can figure out right away other that it can be traced to the fact that each leg has 2 servos only. One for moving the leg back and forth, another to lift it as it moves in front position. Due to the circular motion of the back/forth movement, there is a bit of skidding but I can't tell why there is a strict left turn tendency and not left and right alternating.

Main lesson I suppose is to think of leg movement in terms of frames, like making an animation (which it really is).