Today was another day we let the hex walk on its own. With the changes to the underside of the second leg linkage, the bot has a new failure point. It breaks around the bearing in the second linkage and the crack extends though the rest of the linkage. You can see what this looks like below.
While this was most often the failure point, we also saw a different failure point. The third leg linkage, the curved one, broke while the HExBOT was walking. We think this is because that leg was curved and dragged around the carpet. We believe that this is because the hexbody sags when walking-which makes it think that the position for air is on the ground.
To fix these problems we plan to: 1) Coat the legs in epoxy 2) Curve the third linkage such that there is more material around the hole 3) Create an offset to account for the sag.
We also plan to move the legs an 1/8 " up so that the push rods "hub" doesn't hit the base plate.
Off to make more changes. See our robot try to conquer the world only to get crushed below.
To fix these problems we plan to: 1) Coat the legs in epoxy 2) Curve the third linkage such that there is more material around the hole 3) Create an offset to account for the sag.
We also plan to move the legs an 1/8 " up so that the push rods "hub" doesn't hit the base plate.
Off to make more changes. See our robot try to conquer the world only to get crushed below.