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Subject: 
Re: Pneumatic "One Leg at a Time" Robot Circuit
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.technic
Date: 
Tue, 13 Sep 2005 21:23:09 GMT
Viewed: 
3614 times
  
In lugnet.technic, Kevin L. Clague wrote:
In lugnet.technic, Mark Bellis wrote:
A while ago I saw an electric robot on TV that had 6 legs in 2 rows of 3 and
moved one leg at a time forwards (lift, forward, down), then all back together.

I thought this is an ideal application for Lego pneumatics.

(SNIP)

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/mbellis/Technic/Pneumatics/Building-Blocks/pneumatic_one_leg_at_a_time_robot_circuit.jpg

There are 5n+3 steps in the cycle, where n is the number of legs.  The circuit
uses 3n+1 (or 4n+1) cylinders and 7n+2 valve switches.

Load bearing is accommodated by the fact that all the legs share the weight, so
if a small pressure drop occurs when a raised foot is lowered, all the other
feet would rise a bit rather than one leg rising all the way, and it would equal
out by the time the raised foot was fully lowered.

As well as walking robots, this circuit lends itself to any function that
requires several sub-systems to operate in sequence, with a global reset at the
end.

Mark

Hi Mark,

  Now I know what to build next..... a four legged walker that lifts one leg at
a time.  On paper it looks like I can get one made for 1+2n pistons and 2+4n
switches.  This assumes that legs mechanically lock when weight bearing. I don't
use pneumatic differential pair logic when making walkers.  I stick with single
switch AND gates that Mark Terrabain turned me on to.

  In general I don't think that differential pair logic is the most cost
effective way to build sequencers because they are so much more expensive to
implement.

Kev

This one has moved away from my usual differential logic.  Each leg module has a
flip-flop for the foot and hip, which does 3 out of 4 movements and waits for
the fourth to be done all legs together.

I see how single switch AND gates work for several legs in parallel, but this
robot is one leg at a time, which has a greater overhead of pneumatic parts.
Perhaps using 3 leg modules with a few single switch AND gates would make a
decent 6-legged 2 at a time robot.  It doesn't have the same steering capability
that you've added with reversers though, but it was directly modelled on the
robot I saw, rather than the ideal function.

I had a surprise the other day.  Looking on my old computer I discovered that
I'd drawn a 1+4 AND gate for myself long before I joined the online community!
I wouldn't quibble about credits, though it just shows how great minds think
alike!  The discovery was not a surprise in one sense, because I wondered how I
had developed my octopus arm without first making an AND gate.  The octopus arm
is an old design too, but it combines single and differential logic.  I think I
drew a first circuit sketch and then minimised it, probably removing a third of
the switches!

Mark



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Pneumatic "One Leg at a Time" Robot Circuit
 
(...) I understand that leg 0 is moved up forward then down, leg 1 is moved up/forward/down, leg2 is moved up/forward/down, leg 3 is moved up/forward/down, and finally leg 0, leg 1, leg 2 and leg3 are moved back. I don't quite understand why you (...) (19 years ago, 13-Sep-05, to lugnet.technic)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Pneumatic "One Leg at a Time" Robot Circuit
 
(...) Hi Mark, Now I know what to build next..... a four legged walker that lifts one leg at a time. On paper it looks like I can get one made for 1+2n pistons and 2+4n switches. This assumes that legs mechanically lock when weight bearing. I don't (...) (19 years ago, 13-Sep-05, to lugnet.technic)

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