GoForSmoke:
1 motor doesn't have to move the legs on just one side.
The implication of that (in the context of just 2 motors) is that (for example) a RH leg and 2 LH legs will always move together.
GoForSmoke:
If 2 motors move 2 legs on one side and 1 on the other, running 1 motor faster than the other will make the bot turn.
I remain to be convinced. One mode of 6 legged walking is when one leg or 2 legs (but never 3) on one side is carrying the weight. I don't see how moving the 2 legs faster than the one leg can make any difference to the amount of movement unless you are relying on the one leg slipping more than the 2 legs.
I just downloaded the video so I could watch it in slow motion using VLC and it seems to turn in some cases by only moving the legs on one side.
...R
2 legs on 1 side and 1 leg on the other. And no, 1 motor can move all 3 at different speeds, even different directions though in repeated patterns. One axle can turn 3 cams, no problem.
I saw a video on a toy, IIRC the Furby, and how little it took to drive the animation. The Big Secret was that the inventor is a whiz with light mechanics as well as electronics.
Robin, you do model trains and layouts. Have you ever used a wire jig to make movement pieces? This would be with steel wire, not jumper wires.
I stand corrected, I just watched the vid again, and they do have one side stopping to turn. I was going on what stood out to me on first watching and haven't been able to watch it again due to data limitation.
Thanks to youtube's 0.25 speed playback, on the very first demonstration of the bug, you can see that the first and third legs on the side are synced, middle leg is the alternate. Could be as simple as fixed gears to make the legs do a leap froggy one after the other deal.
Leg attached to a circular gear, body opening hole works as a fulcrum to lever the leg so the small circular movement is exaggerated (like an oar in a rowboat).
Following that analogy, it's like 6 people in a row boat. On one side, the front and back are synced, the middle is opposite phase. Rowing is a circular motion, which is simple enough to imagine having a motor do.
GoForSmoke:
They might use 6 micro motors of some kind. A surfeit of tech toy parts means not having to improvise so much.
Well, it's not about availability. Few things are as reliable as a bean counter's input. If it can be made with less for cheaper, you can bet that's the route chosen.
2 motors, independent sides, and on each side are legs linked to faces of gears with fulcrum on the body, and all gears per side are linked to spin same direction with middle leg 180deg out of phase, that's my final answer.
