MDAFour-legged Mechanical Walkers: Teams 2, 4 and 5
Here are videos of the designs for the four legged mechanical walkers obtained by Teams 2, 4 an 5. This is the final project in my Fall 2019 Kinematic Synthesis course.
MDAFour Legged Mechanical Walker: Teams 1, 3 and 6
Here are videos of the designs for the four legged mechanical walkers obtained by Teams 1, 3 an 6. This is the final project in my Fall 2019 Kinematic Synthesis course.
Team 1
Team 3
Team 6
Mechanical Walker Project Animations: Spring 2019
Here are the solid models of some of the walkers designed by UC Irvine students in my Spring 2019 course MAE 183 Kinematic Synthesis of Mechanisms.
Walker Group 1
Walker Group 2
Walker Group 4
Walker Group 6
Walker Group 8
Walker Group 9
Walker Group 10
JMMConstruction of a Leg Mechanism
This is a series of four videos that show how to:
- Specify three positions for the foot of a leg consisting of a hip and knee joint;
- Use three position synthesis to design a four-bar function generator to guide the hip joint;
- Then use three position synthesis to design a second four-bar function generator to guide the knee joint;
- And finally assemble the linkage to determine the trajectory of the foot. Adjusting the lengths of the leg segments, the position of the hip, the specified positions of the input cranks, and the position of the coupler attachments to the input cranks vary the resulting foot trajectory. An example leg mechanism is shown at the end of this video.
Part 1:4 Setting up the design
Part 2:4 Synthesis of the hip function generator.
Part 3:4 Synthesis of the knee function generator.
Part 4:4 Assembly of the leg mechanism, exploration of design variations, and an example final leg design.
Walking Machine Class Projects: Ohio State ME 5751
Prof Haijun Su at Ohio State University had his students design walking machines for their final project in ME 5751. Here are videos of four project teams from that event.
Team A:
Team B:
Team C:
Team D:
LINCAGES and the History of Kinematic Synthesis
The linkage design software developed by Art Erdman and his students at the University of Minnesota, called LINCAGES: Linkage INteractive Computer Analysis and Graphically Enhanced Synthesis Package, was developed in 1977 through 2000. This is a link to his information site. His guide map that evaluates all of the linkages formed from points on the circle-point and counter-point curves was a nice innovation.
This link connects to a YouTube video shows the linkage design process using LINCAGES:
Strider and TrotBot at DIYWalkers.com
Just after I published my book Kinematic Synthesis of Mechanisms with its emphasis on leg mechanisms, I found two more interesting eight-bar legs from the designers at DIYWalkers.com
This is a Geogebra animation of the leg mechanism for the Strider walker. It is a symmetrical design that allows the formation of a second foot assembly by simply adding two more bars.
This is an animation of the leg mechanism in the TrotBot walker.
JMMAbout Geogebra-Kinematic Synthesis of Mechanisms
The animated four-bar linkage FHJD is constructed using dimensions as the quadrilateral ABCD. The dynamic geometry software Geogebra maintains the dimensions of FHJD as the points of ABCD are moved. The result is that the animated linkage changes to match the new dimensions. This can be seen in following Movie. For more information see Kinematic Synthesis of Mechanisms.
JMMChapter 6 Animations-Kinematic Synthesis of Mechanisms
Here are the eight Movies in Chapter 6 of Kinematic Synthesis of Mechanisms.
Movie 6.1
Movie 6.2
Movie 6.3
Movie 6.4
Movie 6.5
Movie 6.6
Movie 6.7
Movie 6.8
JMMChapter 5 Animations-Kinematic Synthesis of Mechanisms
Here are the four Movies in Chapter 5 of Kinematic Synthesis of Mechanisms.