Jansen Walking Linkage

This is a project to build an 8-legged walking chassis inspired by the walking linkage used on Teo Jansen’s Straandbeest.  The linkage has been re-optimized for the 8-legged design, where the legs are driven at a phase angle of 180 degrees instead of Mr. Jansen’s 120 degrees.  This allows the legs to be driven from a common crank mechanism, such as a bicycle crank, instead of the 3-part crankshaft used in Jansen’s Straandbeests.  This configuration will not be quite as smooth as a Straandbeest, but it will be significantly easier to construct, and is more than smooth enough for motorized operation.  The step was widened and flattened for stability for use with a vehicle operating on a smooth surface.

Here is a video of the first working prototype, created on the RepRap 3D printer at Quelab

The work area for the walking robot chassis is http://boim.com/Walkin8r

The project ticket tracker is at http://boim.com/WalkerTrac

Ask Mr.What for access to the SVN repository.  At this time it can be accessed from svn+ssh://boim.com/home/mrwhat/svn/Walker but the URL might change as the project becomes more public.  At this time, you may need an SVN account to update the repository.