Taking apart the RC car and saving the motor, circuit board, and battery holder.
Initially attaching the Popsicle stick legs. The brass tube was loose, eventually causing the legs to jitter back and forth.
The finished robot with Popsicle stick legs. This was especially pleasing since the printed gear work rather well. Unfortunately, The galvanized wire and Popsicle sticks caused the robot to be tediously hobbling back and forth.
My new parts can be found here. I will test them and update on my progress. So far I have successfully printed new legs and feet. I need a body to mount the short arms to, and then I will be able to test the robots walking capabilities.
Here is the robot after the parts were attached! The movement was more reliable, and it moved in a smoother pattern.
I took an RC car apart and used the motor to create a walking robot. This video provided some useful information on getting started with this project. It showed me how to structure the legs and use the axle, which normally would have wheels, to walk. However, the dc motor I found had a different structure and axle, so I created my own. My car was also bigger and heavier. This prompted me to create my own 3D printed version of this car-robot. Once I had gotten the robot to function, I incorporated 3D printing to improve the robot's strength and reliability.
The motor. The screws will turn the legs when the controller switch is pushed forward or backwards. The top gear is 3D printed. It has 32 teeth like the other gear, however the inner hole has a diameter of 2mm. This allows the axle(which is made of a coat hanger) to be thinner and fit into the gold terminal blocks. There are also rings with the diameter of the former axle and a hole with the new axle. This prevents the gear from moving when the motor is running.
The Popsicle sticks function as the legs. The shorter one is mounted to the side of the robot and the longer one is attached to the axle. Because of former modifications(oops), I had to glue another side so the shorter Popsicle stick could mount to the robot. I also had to dremel out a hole because the new suspended axle caused the gear to pop out a bit.
Shown below is a video displaying how the robot ran at first. It was floppy and couldn't move in a straight line. However, the gear, axle, and bearings were functioning flawlessly. With the recently acquired knowledge I now have, I am currently designing a 3D printed version of this robot. Using a strong plastic, Amphora, I can incorporate a more precise model, and hopefully use less hot glue!
Because of the Popsicle sticks and brass tube for legs, this was extremely... floppy. I worked on 3D printed parts to make this more precise.
These are the new legs and feet. They are more relatively proportional and smoother. I have held up an old leg to compare the roughness of the old leg. The feet snap in to the legs, so if I encounter a problem with them I won't have to keep reprinting legs.