walking machine

Walking machines are quite easy to make.
This is a simple walking machine made from bent wire, it runs off a single AA battery.

This is a drawing of the crank/foot mechanism



If large cardboard wheels are substituted for the rockers the action becomes more interesting: make domed covers for the ends of the crank to make it self-righting.

When the wheels meet an obstruction the motor starts driving the crank round, the spinning eccentric weight of the motor & batteries causes the robot to jump up & down and the foot oscillates, this frees the robot from the obstruction.
This one has two offset setscrews instead of a crank

It is much simpler to make and works just as well.

movie




They are quite aesthetic

This one has a foot, the design of the foot is quite important, paradoxically it seems that if the foot has a freely-rotating wheel (see top of page) it works better.

This one works by twiddleing your thumb and forefinger



Buy one: only $20. Looks like it's gear ratio is too low. My ones work because the dynamic forces of the rotating motor/batteries are quite big
link to sodaplay
paper kinetic horse
BIGDOG robot
steam powered
related ideas
Starfish clip
Halluc II clip
link to toploading washing machine gearbox (similar mechanism)
good site for motors etc


my email is davidvwilliamson@hotmail.com
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