Hexapod Robot

    Hexapods are robots that base their design mostly on insect locomotion. They serve no benefit when made at a small scale, apart from exercising one's engineering mindset. There are several variations on them on the internet, but I wanted to build one from the ground up, meaning the design of the circuitry and the programming. I also wanted to utilize my 3D printer in the project, so it was an ideal project to undertake.
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The goal of this project is to mimic normal insect strides and use an IMU fitted onto a glove to control the bot via bluetooth communication. So a user would tilt their hands in the direction they desire the bot to go, and then an Arduino Mega on the hexapod would interpolate the tilts as angle measurements on which the eighteen servos, fitted in the six legs are to be controlled. Three servos fitted onto a leg representing the Coxa, Femur, Tibia joints.
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There were several problems I did not foresee initially, For instance, limitations to designing with an FDM printer. Flexing in the structure made the torque from servo ineffective, the weight of material and strength of servos were added mechanical difficulties. On the electrical side powering eighteen servos with a 9 V battery wasn't a sustainable solution. Therefore a portable 10,000 mAh battery pack, rated at 2.1 A and 5 V, which proved adequate for the job.
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