myProjectsSV

No instructions created yet. We'll probably do that last. Working on exact pricing now. We'd probably do all the software open source so the user community can work together to improve the walking and write new programs. Are there any programmers on this thread? Michael

Sorry, I didn't see this post sooner to reply. I agree about the legs too, and we'll make adjustments to get the scale more accurate. I think we could actually make this kit very cost competitive, but "expensive" is such a relative concept. There are some walking robot kits out there ranging from $500 to $1500. I think we could be more competitive in features and value. What do you think would be reasonable?

Hi all, we have nearly got our AT-TE walking!!! :classic: I just posted some videos of testing to the myProjects Facebook Fan Page. After a few requests, we've been toying with the idea of selling a kit, so others could do this, and the whole user community could work together to share software to improve the walking and add other features. (My development team and I previously work at Apple on the iPod and iPhone, so I think we could make a great quality product here, for a very good price). We're undecided yet whether to produce a kit. What do you guys think? Would anyone be interested? The kit would include: - Durable aircraft aluminum internal frame for rigidity. - High Torque motors to individually control each leg joint. - Powerful CPU with additional inputs for adding features. - Long lasting rechargeable battery. - Fully functional software, preprogrammed in for walking. - Remote-control. - Detailed graphical assembly instructions. Additional features: - External appearance would be nearly identical to the LEGO AT-TE, using most of the parts from the LEGO AT-TE kit. - User-programmable from PC or Mac over USB. - Program in C language. - All code from us would be open source.

We had the 4th session of my AT-TE robot walker workshop last night. We got the final aluminum frame pieces (1/3rd the weight of the steel prototypes), and added the carbon fiber torsion suspension. Next week we'll wire it up and start programming the motions. More pictures on our facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Campbell-CA/...31093066?ref=ts Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/myProjectstweet

Thanks for the props CommanderFox! Give us the chance to show you what it can do before we start going back to all-LEGO parts. This initial prototype has steel parts, but the final form will have an aircraft-aluminum chassis and carbon-fiber suspension. It will still have all the LEGO external parts and be exactly the same size as the original LEGO model, but these internals will allow us to handle steep inclines, off-cambers, and step over obstacles. It has a high-torque motor at every joint, and a lithium-polymer battery that can source 36 Amps. It should be a pretty serious piece of hardware! :classic: Can't wait to show you. That said, I'm blown away by how well the all-LEGO walkers work in the vids that were shared in this thread. Here's a video of the steel prototype parts being cut by a 1500W laser. It's kind of reminiscent of the droid factories. Thanks man. I actually used to live in Boston from 2001-2005. Love it there. Grimmy, if you're really committed to the RF solution, the easiest path (but to your point, not the cheapest) might be to use a Radio/Receiver/Electronic-Speed-Controller kit. You could wire the LEGO drive motor directly to the speed controller, use any battery over 6V, and it'd come with a steering servo that you could easily connect to your LEGO rack and pinion with the right sized screw. Your solution would work, but the electronics would probably be a little more tricky. Here's an example of the radio/receiver/esc. It costs $85 usd. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti00...XASX4**&P=7

Wow, that video is awesome. Thanks! Ours differs in that we'll have control over each individual joint separately, and we'll coordinate all the motions in software. Hopefully we can get it walking as smoothly. We will post additional updates as we make progress. Should be finished in two weeks.

I know. I'm not a purist in this regard. I figure if use all the technologies at our disposal and show LEGO what's possible, maybe they'll make us better parts. :) However, we are designing to keep the scale and the cosmetic parts consistent with the original model.

I was just searching the web for "walking AT-TE" and came across this thread. Very elegant and cool! I run engineering workshops in Silicon Valley, and we're currently half-way through making our own mechanized AT-TE based on the LEGO set, and should have it walking before Christmas. We are motorizing each joint individually, and using software control to create smooth motions. If anyone's interested, we're posting photos and video daily to our Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Campbell-CA/...31093066?ref=ts Our webpage is here: http://myprojectssv.com/myProjects/Workshops.php Michael