Terrain Adaptation Hexapod

[Matt Denton]

Hi all,

I have finally got around to spending more time on terrain adaptation using my p.Brain-DS engine and the largest of my hexapods to date - B.F.Hexapod (V5).

As some of you may know I have dabbled with terrain adaptation before back in 2003 with my V4 hexapod, however, I was limited by having the locomotion engine off-board. With these new tests using the on-board p.Brain-DS many of the problems were solved, along with a new contact sensor design I intend on using on larger hexapods.

More info can be found on my site here: micromagic systems - B.F. Hexapod (V5)

Terrain test videos showing various gaits can be found here:

Terrain Test 1
Terrain Test 2
Terrain Test 3
Terrain Test 4

Don't ask me why the video's all start grey.. something to do with youtube conversion, as they were all fine before I sent them!?

B.F. Hexapod V5

[robotguy]

Matt,

I love the terrain adaptability! It is just too cool. This might be something worth offering as an option for the p-Brain you will be selling. I think it would be very cool to have a Hexapod/Octapod (I prefer Octapods) that could fully adapt to outdoor terrains. I am thinking of a walker that could compete in RoboMagellan type events. With a faster and more capable processor that would communicate with the p-Brain, calculations could be done faster, which might allow the robot to move quicker in terrain adaptation mode. I'm thinking of a Linux powered Hex/Octapod with a Hammer-RDP connected to the p-Brain.

8-Dale

[Matt Denton]

I will release a p.Brain-HexEngine that will have terrain adaptation capabilities, however, It won't be the first release. I need to do some further testing with it. Processor speed won't really speed up the TA capabilities of the p.Brain, there is already plenty of spare processing time left in the p.Brain. The speed is largely governed by the mechanics of the design and the terrain. The algorithm does need some work though.

[ucaboys]

Matt,
I'll gladly help out on the optimization of the algorithm and the code - That is one of my specialties.

Luis Garcia ( aka ucaboys )

[Matt Denton]

Matt,
I'll gladly help out on the optimization of the algorithm and the code - That is one of my specialties.

Luis Garcia ( aka ucaboys )

Hi Luis, thanks for the offer, however, I probably won't release a code version of the hex engine. Also, it's not really optimisation that's required, It just needs a bit of tweaking and some more behavioural routines added.

Having said that, once I have the release version of the hex-engine, and the code SSC, help/hints/tips on optimising and communication protocols will be appreciated

I will also release some pretty simple windows apps for serial control of the hex-engine, these could definitely do with an update, as I'm not a great windows programmer.

[robotguy]

Ooooooooooh, add terrain adaptation to iC and let it roam around.

8-Dale

[Demmo]

Ooooooooooh, add terrain adaptation to iC and let it roam around.

8-Dale

iC would need a backpack then to carry his PC processing face recognition etc
or in other words... the algorythm would have to be moved from PC to uC as well

[Matt Denton]

Ooooooooooh, add terrain adaptation to iC and let it roam around.

8-Dale

iC would need a backpack then to carry his PC processing face recognition etc
or in other words... the algorythm would have to be moved from PC to uC as well

Not necessarily, video could be sent wirelessly to the CvPC.