Conclusions:
We accomplished our goal of creating two identical, working Theo-Jansen legs that had the desired motion on the foot joint. We were also able to motorize the design and move the legs properly without having to turn anything by hand, using a DC motor with an encoder and planetary gearbox. We were able to connect all of the joints and links smoothly using purely press fits, bearings, and wooden dowels. This helped with reducing the amount of friction experienced on each joint and increased the robustness of the entire mechanism
Future Work:
We could not build a robot with four working legs and include the coding for it to be able to turn in different directions and have line following capabilities
Areas for improvement are:
- Increasing the number of legs
- Fabricate a body to fit two motors and all of the wirings for L298n Motor Driver
- Code the motors to sync up when walking/turning
- Use photoresistors and PID control to produce line following capabilities
- Add spacers for the ball bearings
- Fabricate the links and rods out of metal for better durability
- Spec higher torque motors to support heavier links if metal was chosen