We have built a miniature and cheap version of the rHex robot, originally created by a group of universities under a large DARPA program in the US.
Our mini-rHex is 26 x 14 cm in size and weighs 530 grams. The whole robot costs USD 190.- to produce. In order to increase speed, each leg has 3 evenly spaced pedals. We have also added a passive spine joint on the body of the robot, between the middle and hindlegs. We will shortly conduct an experiment to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of this spine joint for handling rough terrains.
Preliminary runs demonstrate that the robot is capable of handling various terrain materials and going over obstacles as high as 110% of its own height (see video). On flat surfaces, the robot can go at about two body lengthes per second with the current configuration, in theory, faster speeds should be possible.
This project is funded by the Locomorph project and supervised by Lijin Aryananda.
If you have any questions or suggestions feel free to contact me at
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