DASH Hexapod Is Cheap To Build, Cheaper To Fix, Impossible To Destroy
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Monday, 19 of October , 2009 at 12:31 am
If a hexapod kit is a little bit out of your price range, how about a little bot that uses one motor and one servo, is made mostly of cardboard, and can be built in an hour? Yeah, sounds good to me too, but you won’t be shocked to learn that it’s a little more complicated than that, although not much more complicated. The robot is called DASH, which stands for Dynamic Autonomous Sprawled Hexapod (remember SprawlBots?), and it’s from the Biomemetic Millisystems Lab at UC Berkeley.
The principle behind this robot is that simple + cheap = just about as good as complicated + expensive, a philosophy that this lab as proven before with RoACH. And it really is simple, with the entire robot buildable in 59 minutes flat. Despite this simplicity, DASH is no slouch, able to motor along at a steerable 15 body lengths per second, which translates into 60 miles per hour if it was my size (how’s that for scary). Despite, or perhaps because of, its simple construction, DASH it can survive a terminal velocity impact of 10 meters per second, which means you could drop it off Mount Everest and it would hit the ground running. Plus, the pliable design and rotary leg motion give it the ability to climb over obstacles taller than it is.
The next steps for DASH involve trying out different leg designs and refining the steering mechanism. With such a simple and cheap robot, it might be fun if they put out a kit and sponsored a competition for the best leg design over different types of terrain or something. Oh well, I can dream, can’t it?
[ Biomemetics @ UC Berkeley ] VIA [ IEEE ]
Comments (2)
Category: Biorobotics,Research
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Comment by FelipeChoque
Made Monday, 19 of October , 2009 at 6:57 am
Watch out for GYO!!
Comment by quantum_flux
Made Wednesday, 10 of November , 2010 at 3:12 pm
Brilliant, I want one!
