Infernal Propulsion Challenge: Walkers, catapults, and more! [Infernal Robotics]

[m1sz]

Very nice Darren9! clever way of not using reaction wheels

[dinosaurJR]

I absolutely love how this is a game that was intended to be a space program sim and then BOOM here we are making al kinds of stuff.

This challenge is really hard, by the way - I am struggling to create a walker. A "Sit on asser" is much easier...

[Ryu Gemini]

Sorry I haven't updated the topic in about a week, been a bit busy. I'll get around to it sometime in the next couple days.

[Ryu Gemini]

Sorry for the update delay.

Nice caterpillar and helicopter, Darren9! I didn't realize you could adjust the rotatron's speed like that. I may have to mess around with that... Looks like the caterpillar was about 1.5 m/s or so (without a good over-ground measurement, its reasonable to assume that the lowest number is about it since that's when the walker isn't moving up or down).

m1sz: Very nice. You deserve kudos for your ability to control the thing alone, really. Early iterations wouldn't qualify due to their apparent need for the use of the jet in stabilization, but I did see some later ones walking around with it off.

Very nice flapper Parallax.

Updated scores, and split off a helicopter division for aircraft.

[fluffysnowcap]

i love the idear of this chalange and will start work on some things for this

[Parallax]

forgot about this thread, despite it being the reason I made this in the first place...

here is my submission for the land division:

[Cranium]

I made this a while ago, but I think it works well with the scope of this challenge. It's not very fast, because in FAR, the silly thing wants to flip right over going any faster than 15 m/s horizontally.

The SAS units are the only thing that controls it, but since the pitch of the blades is controllable, I think it's entirely possible to get this thing to fly like a proper copter would, using only the lift differential from the various rotors.

I might have to revisit this and see if I can get that set up, actually.

[battlefieldaces]

I'd just like to point out that instead of the vannila reaction wheels you can actually make your own by using rotatrons and fuel tanks or other heavy parts

[Parallax]

how do you get it to work as a reaction wheel though?

[VR_Dev]

I'm really glad someone made a thread to document all the outstanding walking/mech progress this game has made. Hopefully it only gets better.

My gundam has evolved a lot since I made this video, but I still think it's pretty cool. And hopefully the finished product will be even better.

thread

Also my new zoid walks. This was my first and only attempt at walking, with a little practice it wouldn't be so wonky.

thread

No FAR

[battlefieldaces]

Spin it? You need to know the way a reaction wheel works. Go on wikipedia, learn the stuff behind rocket science.

Edit: I'd love to see some bot dancing or such.

[m1sz]

what about a bike and a F1 car using infernal robotic wheels?

oh!, and a little mechsuit preview

[Darren9]

I've got a couple of walkers, first is another, um, suspect device, using repulsors this time instead of the magical reaction wheels to stay up and the second can walk with no reaction wheels or any other mysterious forces.

[Fengist]

I've been wanting to experiment with walking propulsion for a while now and finally got around to it. Though this thread is probably not maintained any more it seems like the best place to put this.

One of the things I noticed from most all of the other entries is that they either rely on massive amounts of SAS or RCS, or they're terminally slow or they require button jamming or programmable keyboards. I've been trying to come up with a 'fire and forget' method of walking whereby you turn it on and you're on your way. With infernal robotics about the only viable solution I've come up with is a cam driven model. While I still haven't conquered bipedal locomotion using this method (without using SAS or RCS) I have succeeded in creating locomotion using just one rotor per leg.

If nothing else, this may give some ideas to those of you working on walkers.

Without further ado, I present the Cam Walker 12 (I first created an 8 cam version that worked just as well but I liked this one better).

Oh and I made a minor fubar with my video titles... quadraped should be octo.

Oh, and the 'elbows' are from the Ion pack. For some reason very few modders consider the fact that a 90 degree part would be real handy at times.

[Fengist]

I have done it!

Finally, I have succeeded in creating a walker that you can simply turn on, and steer. No button jamming or programmable keyboard required. AND, I usually don't impress myself, but, for a walker, it's fast. I've hit speeds of 18m/s on Kerbin and well over 25m/s on the Mun. It's stable, can handle the steep terrain of the Mun and uses no RCS (Yes, I have gobs of reaction wheels but I had to sacrifice something.)

I present for you amusement, Mun Runner

Like my previous walker, it's completely cam driven. You turn the rotors on, and it walks (albeit forward only but it can u-turn pretty quick and hop in place if needed). Each leg has 2 sets of double rotors. Single rotors simply didn't provide the speed needed to lift the legs. Each rotor has a B9 cap, an offset docking washer (the free moving variety) and an invisible B9 strut connecting to the leg. One connects just above the foot and the other at the knee. The legs have 2 joints with washers (hip and knee) and 2 joints with hinges (hip and foot) that allow the foot to be angled to improve speed and to rotate the center of gravity around a bit. The device on top is a reactor from near future (I tried to used the generator from the ion pack but 3 tons was a bit much)

Lessons learned:

1. Thanks to the videos from Parallax, I realized getting the legs up and moving was the key to walker speed.

2. Foot angle. wow, putting the hinges on the feet made a huge difference. By changing the angle on the feet, and even small changes, while moving I can get some impressive speed.

3. When dealing with rotors and connecting parts to them with struts, expect things to wobble. If you lock one part down with struts, another will wobble. Just... accept the wobbles.

4. Never look a gift horse in the mouth. This thing actually runs in reverse of what I envisioned. I had planned on the 'knees' being aft. But, I launched it and it began running in reverse... quite nicely. Took me less time to put the truck cab on the rear end than it did to figure out why it wasn't working as I'd planned.

5. When dealing with walkers, expect crashes. You'll note my 'training wheels' on the front and rear. Saved me from re-launching after many a nose dive while learning how to drive it.

Even though the OP is probably long gone, THIS challenge has led to my greatest accomplishment in KSP. Thank you.

Edited September 7, 2014 by Fengist

[Parallax]

despite looking almost identical to previous models, this one is improved in every way: speed, stability, maneuverability. I can now climb up and down very steep hills, move in reverse. Plus it has a rotating turret for a 360° panoramic view. Very easy to operate, no qwop-ing around, script does most of the work, all I need to do is steer and adjust the ankle servos depending on the terrain.

Here's another walker that I made a while ago:

It walks on three legs. Unfortunately my ksp install got corrupted and the craft file is gone forever. Some day I'll build another one. Edited September 6, 2014 by Parallax

[Parallax]

Spin it? You need to know the way a reaction wheel works. Go on wikipedia, learn the stuff behind rocket science.

Edit: I'd love to see some bot dancing or such.

do you have a picture or video of how this would work?

[battlefieldaces]

I think I clearly stated "go on wikipedia" . But nvm here's the link for the lazy ppl

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_wheel

[Parallax]

I know how a reaction wheel works, i'm asking how you would make one in ksp. have you done it before?

[Darren9]

I think I clearly stated "go on wikipedia" . But nvm here's the link for the lazy ppl

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_wheel

Have you made one? It's just that "They are particularly useful when the spacecraft must be rotated by very small amounts", most of these crafts need constant forces way outside of what could be achieved with a single speed on/off rotatron, plus you'd have to operate on 3 axis and somehow coordinate them to balance. It's OK if you know which way you need to rotate or have a computer to calculate for a couple of axis but in KSP you've just got a couple of on/off buttons.

[Fengist]

While you guys argue over reaction wheels... I go roller skating.

[Darren9]

While you go roller skating I do ballet, no wait, um, I train for epic battles!

[battlefieldaces]

You can assign keybindings to IR parts to make things easy. And with the small amounts thing this is ksp, i just wanted you to learn the concept. Yes, it can be used like a regular reaction wheel, it doesn't use energy but it's horribly heavy, it needs 2 rotatrons and 2 FLT100 tanks per axis and placement can be difficult for practical use. But hey, it works and it's free of charge(i mean electric charge). Due to the torque the wheels produce when stopping the vehicle won't keep spinning after releasing the controls, and that can be really useful. Also the weight of the wheels must be proportional to the vehicle's weight so don't try spinning an orange tank with an FLT 100

Edited September 8, 2014 by battlefieldaces

[Mangles91]

Ive got a roller skating mech that can climb mountains( or at least the vab ) is kas an acceptable mod for movement I use the winches for climbing

[Parallax]

Yea man, post it!