Non-Assembly 3D-Printed Walking Mechanism Utilising a Hexapod Gait

Abstract

Small inspection robots can allow for the exploration of environments and the collection of data from dangerous or difficult to access areas. These robots can be custom built for specific tasks, but the design and assembly process for this can be costly, both in money and time. The use of 3D Printing in creating Non-Assembly mechanisms can assist in saving time and resources by reducing the number of different components required and removing the necessity for complex assembly tasks. This paper introduces a robot to explore the capabilities of this approach, by iterating on a previous example of a robot with Non-Assembly mechanisms. This explores how altering the size, mechanism type and accompanying control circuitry can affect the efficiency of the practice. Through developing on previous knowledge, this new walking robot improves on the previous iteration by creating a more robust and reliable system, more capable of effectively exploring challenging environments accurately, while still using practices designed to save on cost and production time.