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Doug Bell's eight-legged LEGO ZNAP walker

LEGO Bricks offer many possibilities for creating robotic machines.  The addition of the LEGO Mindstorms ^(R) RCX modules make robotic creations from LEGO bricks very practical.  A few years ago LEGO came out with a structural construction toy that seems to have been aimed to compete with K'NEX^(R) and similar types of toys.  These kits haven't caught on as well as expected so they are being cleared out of several local toy stores (Toys'R Us) that also sell LEGO bricks and other related products.  What is intriguing about these kits is that most come with a LEGO motor in addition to all the other stuff for blowout prices of $10 or $15!  Doug Bell caught sight of these a couple months ago and notified the SRS listserver.  He also went and bought a bunch of them figuring that at these prices, he could just keep the motors and throw everything else away.  Doug, however, is not one to waste an interesting toy.  He saw the potential for a walking robot in the kits and proceeded to construct what you see above and below.  This robot was built from the contents of two (2) ZNAP #3591 kits and one LEGO ^(R) Mindstorms RCX module.  The kits each come with a manual motor control box that can be used to make the robot walk by remote control.  The addition of a Mindstorms RCX module enables an autonomous mode, however rotation sensors are needed on the drive axles so the robot knows where the leg are going.  Other pieces from miscellaneous sources are cataloged below.

 

The robot walker is approximately x" wide, y" long, and z" high.  It is capable of forward and reverse motion of either or both sets of legs permits pivoting and rotating motion about its center axis.  With fresh batteries it can move about forward or backward at 1" per second.  It can step over obstacles up to about 1/2" tall and prefers to walk on a relatively flat surface.  Below are detailed instructions for constructing this machine if you have or can get these kits.

 

Terminology - Distances:

 

• One ZNAP space - center-to-center distance between purple connectors separated by the shortest girder.
• One ZNAP hole spacing - center-to-center distance between adjacent ZNAP holes, equal to one-half ZNAP space.
• One LEGO stud length - center-to-center distance between adjacent LEGO studs

• 12ea - 4x2-space curved solid
• 10ea - 2x2-space rectangle solid
• 20ea - 2x2-space triangle solid
• 26ea - 4-space girder
• 4ea - 2-space girder
• 12ea - 1-space girder
• 3ea - 2x2-space motor mount rectangle solid
• 2ea - LEGO ^(R) Motors
• 4ea - 8-tooth gear
• 4ea - 16-tooth gear
• 2ea - ? stud length white shafts
• a bunch - purple connector
• a bunch - gray connector

• 2ea - 24-tooth gear
• 4ea - 30-tooth gear
• 1ea - RCX brick
• 2ea - short motor wire
• 2ea - 12x1 stud bricks with 11 Technics pin holes
• 4ea - dark gray male-to-male short-to-long Technics pin converter
• 8ea - 2-stud length black Technics pin
• 20ea - 2-stud length gray Technics pin
• 2ea - 8-stud length black shaft
• 4ea - gray male-to-male shaft-to-Technics pin converter
• 8ea - 1-stud length shaft stop bush

Optional ZNAP Pieces:

• 2ea - Large (6 AA) battery box, with reverse switch
• 8ea - 1-space girder
• 8ea - gray connector

• 3ea - yellow 6x8 stud plate
• 2ea - long motor wire

• 4ea - 3-stud length black Technics pins (the ones with ribs on the third stud's length, if you have them)(I got these from a Neumatics kit.)
• 2ea - 3-stud length black shafts (I got these from a Star Wars Episode 1 Battle Droid kit.)
• 1ea - 4x2-stud electrical connector plate, cut in half to make one 2x2 double-thick connector plate to which wires can be attached (I got this in a pack of connector plates from LEGO Shop At Home.)

• 4ea - rubber bands, size and strength chosen appropriately for each use
• 16ea - paper or plastic covered wire ties, like those that come with garbage bags (I cut mine in half, and they were still long enough. To protect the LEGO pieces, the paper or plastic covering should be intact.)

1. 4ea - Using a gray connector, connect two 4-space girders. Into the hole on each end of this assembly, insert a two stud length gray Technics pin.  Place these pins on opposite sides. Each of these assemblies is a push rod.
2. 8ea - Using two gray or purple connectors, connect two 4-space girders to the wide end of a 2x2-space triangle solid piece. Using two gray or purple connectors, connect another 2x2-space triangle solid piece the other ends of the two 4-space girders. Each of these assemblies is a leg.
3. 6ea - Using a gray connector on the bottom and a gray or purple connector on the top, connect two 4x2-space curved solid pieces. Connect them base to base to make an 8x2-space assembly with a curved bottom. If you use purple connectors, turn them so the assembly is flat. Four of these assemblies are rocking beams; the other two are cross frames.
4. 2ea - Using two or three gray or purple connectors, connect two 2x2-space rectangle solid pieces to make a 4x2-space rectangle assembly.  If you use purple connectors, turn them so the assembly is flat. Each of these assemblies is a front extension.
5. 2ea - Using three purple connectors, add a 2x2-space triangle to the top of each end of one of the cross frames. Turn the purple connector at each end of the curved piece perpendicular to the assembly. Each triangle should snap on from above, facing out. Add a purple connector to the top on each end, perpendicular to the assembly. Using one more purple connector on each side, add a 1-space girder with a purple connector slid over it between the inboard end of the triangle on each side and the next mount inboard.
6. Connect the two cross frames on each end with two 2x2 rectangular pieces. One end of this assembly is the right side of the robot, the other is the left side. Add one front extension to the front of each side, facing forward. This is the chassis.
7. Insert a black Technics pin in each end of two 4-space girders.  Using these pins, mount one girder along the outside of the bottom of each forward extension. Insert two black Technics pins in two adjacent holes in two 2-space girders. Using these pins, mount one girder along the inside of  the bottom of each forward extension, so each extends from the second hole from the front to the connector. These four girders are slide plates.
8. Add one 2x2-space motor mount rectangle solid piece to the back of each side of the chassis, so that the motors will be low on the inside.  Using two or three gray or purple connectors, add one 2x2-space rectangle piece to the back of each side of the chassis.
 

Gear train mechanism	Leg frame	Overview

 

9. Add the last 2x2-space motor mount rectangle solid piece to the center of the chassis, so that the motor bracket faces down. On either side of this, add a 2x2-space rectangle solid piece to the purple connectors floating on the 1-space girders. Use rubber bands over these floating purple connectors to hold them toward the center. Insert one three stud length Technics pin (with ribs) one stud length into each of the four top-most forward and back holes in the two 2x2-space rectangle solid pieces, from the outside.
10. 2ea - Into each of the left and right motor mounts, insert two 16-tooth gears. Insert a white shaft through the bottom hole, through the bottom gear, from the inside out. Push the shaft through far enough to accept an 8-tooth gear. Push on an 8-tooth gear. Into the next hole back, insert a gray male-to-male shaft-to-Technics pin. Onto this pin, push a 24-tooth gear, to mesh with the adjacent 8-tooth gear. One space behind this pin, insert a 3-stud length black shaft. Push a 40-tooth gear onto each end of this shaft.
11. 4ea - Push a two stud length gray Technics pin into one of the holes on the outer ring of each of the 40-tooth gears. The pins on the opposite gears should be 180 degrees out of phase, i.e., on opposite sides. Each of these is a crank pin.
12. 2ea - Through the top center hole on either side of the frame, insert an eight stud length black shaft. On either side of this shaft, push on the gray connector at the bottom center of a rocker arm. On either side of this shaft, push on two one stud length shaft stop bushes. Use a rubber band over the two ends of the shaft, through the rocker arm, to hold this together firmly.
13. 8ea - Position each leg vertically, with the taller side toward the center of the chassis, aligned with a rocker arm, so that the rocker arm is between the leg and the frame. Use a 2-stud length gray Technics pin to connect the top hole on the leg to the next-to-end hole on the rocker arm.  Secure this joint with a wire tie through the Technics pin and over the top, through the connector at the top of the leg, where it should be twisted together.
14. 4ea - For each back leg, push the center hole on the 8-space girder closest to the center of the robot onto the nearby crank pin.
15. 2ea - Push one end of a push rod into the bottom hole of the front 8-space girder of the outside back leg, from the inside out. Push the other end of the push rod into the bottom hole of the back 8-space girder of the inside front leg, from the outside in.
16. 2 - Push one end of a push rod into the top front hole of the bottom 2x2-space triangle solid of the inside back leg, from the outside in.  Push the other end of the push rod into the top back hole of the bottom 2x2-space triangle solid of the outside front leg, from the inside out.
17. 8ea - Secure each of these joints with a wire tie through the Technics pin and through the connector at the end of the push rod, where it should be twisted together.

Note1: The rocker arm doesn't need to be curved, and the pivot point doesn't need to be below the leg pivots - it just worked out that way with the ZNAP pieces. The rocker arms and the legs could just be straight pieces, but they aren't strong enough in ZNAP to avoid bending in the middle. The push rods only push and pull, so can be just girders.

Note2: The rocker arms transmit the vertical motion of the back legs to the front legs; the push rods transmit the horizontal motion. The vertical motion reverses through the rocker arm pivots, so the horizontal motion must be reversed by crisscrossing the push rods.

Note3: The top of each leg goes mostly up and down; the middle of each leg goes in a circle; the bottom of each leg goes in an ellipse - the height is the throw of the crank pin, but the width is the crank pin throw multiplied by the the length from bottom to top, divided by the length from crank pin to top. This is a 2:1 ellipse for this robot. Each leg is not moving horizontally relative to the chassis when it touches - for smoother walking it should come down as it's moving forward.

Possible improvement: The front legs often move far away from the slide plates - something needs to be added to keep them nearer, like outboard slide plates.

18. 2ea - Push an 8-tooth gear onto a motor shaft. Connect a short motor wire onto the motor, so that the wire extends out the back of the motor. Insert the motor into the left or right motor mount.
19. Use the four dark gray short-to-long Technics pins to mount the 12x1 LEGO bricks on either side of the RCX brick. This assembly will fit at the center of the robot, and be held in by snapping the four 3-stud length Technics pins with ribs into the 12x1 LEGO bricks. The ribs make it easy to pull the RCX, to change batteries, put it in another robot, or so that the robot can be run from the remote control unit.
20. Install the RCX assembly with the I/R port facing forward. Connect the left motor to Port A and the right motor to Port C, so that the wires extend to the sides. This way, directing Port A or C forward with make the corresponding side of the robot move forward.

Remote control unit	LEGO Mindstorms RCX Module

My method of connecting the buttons to the RCX needs improvement, but here's what I did - I connected the front and back buttons of legs on the same push rod in series. My rationale was that if the robot is moving forward, the back leg should get pushed in time to use the front leg button to sense if there's a table to step on; the reverse when moving backwards.  The problem with this is that the program needs to know the phase of the drive gears. Without a sensor for this, being able to sense when the back leg touched would have told when to check the front leg.  With the buttons connected in series, I had four (4) circuits to multiplex into one RCX input. I did this by connecting these four (4) circuits in series, with a resistor in parallel with each of the four (4) circuits. The resistors were 4.7K, 10K, 20K, and 39K, 5%. This makes an A to D converter, but because the drive current from the RCX input is from a voltage source through a resistor instead of from a constant current source, the output of the A to D is not linear. This makes the steps different sizes, and in particular makes some of the steps pretty small. I plan to re-think this circuit. Also, the robot isn't heavy enough to always push the buttons I used.  A brute force method would be to use more RCX inputs, but I was hoping to save them for other sensors.

I've attached the NQC source code I used at the RCX Challenge, with most of the sensor code stubbed out - I tried to stub it all out for the demo, but I missed one, so the robot waits until at least one series string of buttons is pushed, then goes through its motions. That turned out to work Ok.

I left out some pieces showing in picture above since they weren't needed and so just made the robot heavier.