Hextor

Hextor Hexapod Robot - Index - - Milford Instrumentsa:hover{color=33CCFF; text-decoration:none} Hextor six-legged walking robot with gripper/lift 
Based around a Parallax BS2sx processor Hextor has fifteen servos, twelve for the six legs, two for the gripper/lift and one for scanning with the Polaroid ultrasonic range-finder, power is supplied from a standard 7.2volt Nicad pack.

The BS2sx is in overall control of nine co-processors. One deals with the keypad and LCD, one controls the ultrasonic range-finder, one looks for infra-red control commands from a standard (tv/video/hi-fi) remote control, while the main one runs a Behavioural Operating System (BOS) which in turn has five co-processors running the servos.

The removeable board with the keypad and LCD can be used via a short umbilical for direct control of Hextor.

The BOS firmware commands enable high level control, of walking using both Tripod Gait and simple Wave Gaits, and also the gripper/lift. The commands use simple ascii codes. eg "F" - Forward, "B" - Backward, "R" - Right turn, "L" - Left turn etc. Full control is available through these commands for adjusting the speed of the servos, the ride height, leg lift when walking, stride length and more, including direct control of each individual servo and interrogation of each servo's status and position in order to allow experiments with complex gaits and to have fine control over the gripper/lift.

http://www.davidbuckley.net/DB/Hextor.htm