attaching a plastic wheel from a kid’s toy to a surplus
motor originally used to power a car’s windshield wipers,
and then having to find a way to mount that combination
on a plywood base so it could support the weight of a
battery without buckling. Unlike many wheel assemblies,
Parallax’s offering includes wheel encoders for monitoring
speed and position.
Now, not only does a hobbyist not need to create their
own motor assembly, they can readily purchase complete
base kits such as the ARLO platform shown in Figure 2,
also from Parallax ( www.Parallax.com). ARLO is extremely
robust and can easily support a man-sized robot. (There
was a recent review of this platform in the August 2014
issue of SERVO.)
Hobbyists have always been fascinated by robotic arms
and walking robots but — until recently — experimenting
with these devices required owning a well-equipped
machine shop. Now, products like Lynxmotion’s servo
Erector set ( www.Lynxmotion.com) provide mechanical
parts for constructing various walking robots like the one
shown in Figure 3 or the arm shown in Figure 4.
Large kits like this are great for schools, but they are
often too expensive for the average hobbyist. The great
thing about this trend, though, is that hobbyists can
purchase individual brackets similar to those used in the kit
(see Figure 5) to customize their own creations.
We used four of these brackets, for example, to
construct two legs (Figure 6) for a walking robot and one
SERVO 12.2014 39
Figure 3.
Figure 4.
Figure 5.
Figure 6.
