Crab 1.0 - 1.5

This my first attemt at a 5-Motor Walker.

It's based on Tilden's famous Walkman (VBug 1.5).

I named him Crab (although he doesn't look like one) because he walks sideways sometimes and his gate looks a bit crabbish.

Click on any of the pictures to see see them full size.

Crab 1.0 Video

Crab 1.5 Video #1

Crab 1.5 Video #2

Crab 2.0 Video -- Reversing

OK, I made some major re-designs on the Crab 1.0. I had to extend the torso because it wasn't stable enough. It walks MUCH better now! -- See the videos above.
I just added a block of wood between the waist motor and the two back leg's motors. It's not so clear in the pictures so I plan to put up some drawings to explain it.
Here's the new pictures:

Here is the schematic/layout that I ended up with:

It took me a looong time to study Tilden's Walkman Schematic and simplify it into something manageable. I just wanted to make a 5-Motor walker that would walk straight first, and then I'd mess with adding more sensors and making him Phototropic. The Phototropic circuit drawn here is straight from the Walkman drawing so it should work -- I mus've messed it up spmewhere. :o( I freeform everything so you know how that is...

The next images are the hand drawn schematics I made of tilden's drawing. Notice how I start simplifying and adapting it to what I needed.

I actually added the phototransistors and he tracked light, but sometimes his legs would spin too far and he'd topple over in a horrible convulsion... So I removed the phototransistors for now.

Check out the schematics and look at the other pictures of the Crab that I have after that.

I used .22uF caps and 2 Meg Resistors for the Microcore. Also, I used 74AC240 for both motor drivers (Tilden used a 74ALS241 for the waist and light-seeking circuittry).

I used Wilf's great Auto-PNC instead of Tilden's PNC etc. and I didn't even try to decifer the buttons he has in there on another IC in the drawing.

I've seen some people trying to build a 5-Motor walker like Walkman and I hope this info is useful for anyone who wants to do it. It's a good simplified walker to start from and then build on form there.

Here are my drawings...

The MicroCore:

Notes while studying different 74*240 Motor Drivers:

Studying Walkman's 74*240 4-Motor Driver:

Organizing the 4-Motor Driver in different layouts so I could visualize it better:

Doing the same thing with the 5th Motor Driver, Phototropic and Reversing circuitry:

Crab 1.0's Pics

That's it!

Hope some of this info helps...

Keep BEAMing,
Ray.

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