3D Printed, Pencil-Footed Walker Robot by randofo:
The nice thing about 3D printing is that it makes building robots easy. You can design whatever configuration of parts that you can dream up and have them in your hand virtually right away. This allows for rapid prototyping and experimention. This particular 3D printed robot is an example of that.
This idea to have a walker bot that shifted its front center of balance is one that I have had for a few years. However, implementing it with off the shelf parts always proved rather tricky and prevented me from really trying. Yet, when I realized that this could be done quickly and easily with 3D printing, I was able to finally create this robot in about two days. Basically, 3D printing had enabled me to take an idea and actualize it in less than 48 hours.
If you want to try your hand at making this easy robot, I have included the files and posted instructions for you to make on yourself. This is definately a fun weekend project for someone with a 3D printer who knows a little bit about electronics and soldering to get their feet wet with robotics.
Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!
Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!
The Adafruit Learning System has dozens of great tools to get you well on your way to creating incredible works of engineering, interactive art, and design with your 3D printer! We also offer the LulzBot TAZ – Open source 3D Printer and the Printrbot Simple Metal 3D Printer in our store. If you’ve made a cool project that combines 3D printing and electronics, be sure to let us know, and we’ll feature it here!