Community Contest | a robot walks into a bar..

[SandervG 1,521]

..or maybe over abbey road, or on the moon. Who knows, maybe it does a walk as a part of a Rube Goldberg device. The point is.. they are walking!

 

The next contest is about walking robots, sounds pretty easy eh?

Well.. that is where the fun comes in. If you make this robot walk on the most fun, creative, crazy location and make a video recording of it, you might be the next one to win an Ultimaker 2 Extrusion upgrade.

We already have the file ready for you.

Some tips to get you started:

- We recommend to use an M2 bolt for a 1:1 scale print and to add a nut in between the legs to keep them separate. (come on guys, we are all adults here. Stop giggling.)

- a 1:1 print robot may need some extra weight just like in the video to get it going.

 

Some practical information:

Contest:

3D Print a walking Ulti-bot (or more) and make it walk. Record it and upload it to this thread.

Prizes:

- an Ultimaker 2 Extrusion Upgrade or 6 reels of filament if you own an Ultimaker Original(+)

Time:

The contest will run until May 27th 2016 12am CET

Rules:

- The robot must be printed on an Ultimaker.

- Modifying the robot is allowed

- Every size is allowed

- Every scene is allowed, go out and create your own or use the existing surroundings. BUT, the robot must walk on itself.

- Multiple entries are allowed.

- The entry which is the most fun, creative, entertaining and impressive wins!

- The winner will be determined by a dedicated jury within Ultimaker.

Good luck, looking forward seeing all your entries!

Fun fact, the movement is based upon this old patent

Edited April 22, 2016 by Guest

[Titus 170]

Cool! Though I must ask, why again an UM2 focused price :(

I know we had the discussion last time too, but you are excluding so many creative people that own a UMO, UMO+, UM2Go(not entirely sure here), and all the 2+ owners.

Ofcourse they can win it, can try to use it or give it away. But it takes away the incentive.

[vince805 4]

+1 on what Titus said.

I'm not interested in an extrusion upgrade kit but I would love some filament rolls! (if I was to win of course).

[ultiarjan 1,223]

you are excluding so many creative people that own a UMO

 

real creative people will be able to upgrade there UMO with the kit

[ultiarjan 1,223]

 

@sandervG I like this contest! I assume we are allowed to alter the robot.... can you provide the .step file?

[Titus 170]

 

you are excluding so many creative people that own a UMO

 

real creative people will be able to upgrade there UMO with the kit

 

They can, but do they want to? What if they are running a different type of modded ultimaker etc?

[SandervG 1,521]

@UltiArjan, the robot should be able to walk by itself but modification of the file is allowed as well. I will add this in the rules, and add a link to the step file (I don't have it myself but I will request it).

@Titus & @Vince805, the reason for an Ultimaker 2 Extrusion Upgrade is because this and the previous contest is a celebration of this upgrade. After this contest we'll move to more generic prizes. But for now; I am willing to make 6 reels of filament available as an alternative prize if the winner would have an Ultimaker Original. The filament type + color are for the winner to pick; of course it needs to be Ultimaker filaments.

Curious to see what you'll come up with!

[ultiarjan 1,223]

 

@Titus if you win the kit I'll be happy to trade it for 7 spools of filament

[EdgE 26]

Step files (with & w/o supports) are uploaded now.

Looking foward for a 2 material print, with moving legs..

[LesHall 95]

I'm gonna sit this one out, looking forward to seeing the awesome work that y'all do though!

Les

Make history!

[Eraser 31]

I'm all in... big plans... big plans!

 

I'm gonna sit this one out, looking forward to seeing the awesome work that y'all do though!  

Les

Make history!

 

[SandervG 1,521]

How is everyone doing? Any cool entries in the works?

Certainly hope so, we definitely had a lot of fun while shooting this video.

If anyone is having difficulties getting the robots to walk post it here so we can help!

Admittedly, it took a few tries to have them all walk without looking like a robot that walked out of a bar and fall flat on its face but we did it!

Looking forward to see what you will come up with!

 

[LesHall 95]

Oh, what the heck! I cannot resist a good contest, and now that I understand it better I'm in! I printed the robot and use a piece of 22 Gauge wire to join them at the shoulder where the legs meet. It won't walk.

The robot is printed in PLA which is very smooth and I've only tested it on smooth surfaces, so it's just not moving or skittering away. I do have some nuts and bolts (stop that grimmacing) in one of those 1.001 pieces kits from Harbor Frieght, but I don't think I have M2. M3 yes but not long enough anyway. Therefore wire.

Why won't he walk?

Les

[Eraser 31]

I have the robot printed and walking.  I am working on the shoot - but I can't give up any spoilers

Edited May 3, 2016 by Guest

[LesHall 95]

I have printed two robots now and neither walks. The larger one I printed in PLA with 100% infill to give it some weight, the smaller with 20% infill, it is very light. I don't know which direction to point the feet and I don't have any M2 hardware to use, so I have wire. No way to keep the legs apart. what am I doing wrong?

[SandervG 1,521]

ohhhh @Eraser, you got me curious!!

In our latest video we happened to use a blanc canvas because our 'photography studio' was free and we had a decent camera available.. but feel free to take your robot outside for a walk or whatever you think would make great footage!

@LesHall, depending on what size you scale your robot you need different screws.

So here it goes! I learned from the master (@EdgE).

- Use a screw which is a tight fit in the robot. So it is secure and does not rotate.

- This is probably the most finicky part; If necessary, drill out the holes in the legs so they are more loose. But don't make it too loose, so they also move from left to right. If it is loose enough can be tested by holding the screw and the leg at 90º and the leg 'falls' down.

But if the hole is too big and it also moves from left to right, the concept of motion is undermined and it won't walk.

- Put the tip of the screw through the robot

- put the first leg on it too. (make sure not to put it in backwards. The backside of the foot is slightly thicker).

- Add a nut or for some we used like 3 washers.

- Add the second leg.

- tighten the screw all the way.

- See if it walks on a slightly rough surface. Wood works, a cloth works as well. A regular desktop not so much.

The concept of motion is that for example it is on its left foot it is about to tip over, but that the right foot gets lifted of the ground and due to the motion falls forward and that is how it walks. If the holes in the legs are too wide, it will just tip over without shifting back to the other leg.

Good luck @LesHall, hopefully my explanation helps!

[SandervG 1,521]

@Titus, @Vince805, and creative and fun entries we can expect from your ends??

Did you see that we added an alternative prize of 6 reels of Ultimaker filament to your choosing?

@UltiArjan, I have high hopes from your alteration!

[ultiarjan 1,223]

Just returned from a short holiday... did already print the original and a larger version with a thin separation wall between the legs. The original does not walk at all.... the larger adapted version sort off walks a bit.... but nothing like moviestar quality....

[EdgE 26]

Maybe some more tips:

* The legs should move without any friction(!). So when holding your robot horizontal (face up), the legs should drop downwards. When rotating (face down), the legs should immediately again drop downwards.

* So when using a screw (or something else), drill all the holes. So when I did created more walking robots (scale 1:1.5), I used for example a M3 screw:

-drilling the body: D2.8 (okay fit for holding this M3 screw)

-drilling the feet: D3.2 (some clearance around the M3 screw, for 'frictionless' rotation)

* I guess some space between the legs is important, so add some washers or a (bigger) nut, or print a small cylinder, which fits in between.

* About walking movement: of course you need a ramp. Secondly this walking needs also a sideward motion at the start. So it will move in some kind of circular motion around the feed downwards..

* The ramp: play a little with the optimal angle. The ramp it's self should be smooth, even a sticker is high enough (~0.2mm) to stop de robot walking. (So a printed ramp is a challenge!)

It's not that easy to make it run, but with a little modding & creativity it's definitely possible!

Edited May 5, 2016 by Guest

[Titus 170]

@Titus, @Vince805, and creative and fun entries we can expect from your ends??

 

Nop, time got the better of me. So much stuff left to do!

[SandervG 1,521]

There are still 3 weeks left

[peetersm 124]

Thanks for all the tips, none of my bots walk. I think had the feet on backwards , since it sounds like the longer part faces the back and the shorter part faces the front. (Opposite of a human foot)

I tried adding weight to the feet, the hands, body, etc trying to make the center of gravity lower since they just kept face planting.

I will try the tips and report back.

[peetersm 124]

Or... I could leave the feet as they are and have a backwards walking robot, a-la Michael Jackson. :-)

[SandervG 1,521]

The smallest robot required extra weight as shown in our first video. But the rest didn't.

Have you reconsidered the angle of your catwalk?

Maybe it is too steep.

This is how the feet are suppose to be. (Based on where the antenna's are you know what the front is, in case it was not clear.)

[LesHall 95]

I feel flustered! I printed the robot at two different sizes and tried different ways (wire, screws, and cotter pin) to mount the legs. I don't have long enough screws in my hardware collection to mount both legs with one screw.

At this point I will need a little while to chill out and see how things improve, and I would like to make the suggestion that we make a robot that works and does not require hardware. After all, print in place is one of our talents.

I can see the feet on the bed, the body supported to waist height, and bridging creating mounts for the legs. I have done this type of thing before with good success.

Les

Make history!