Hexy

Ok, I know I said I was going to update the Mobile Pi project to have speed control..but .. my Hexy finally arrived :)
What is a Hexy? Well it is a Hexapod robot kit by ArcBotics.. I backed thier Kickstarter project last year, and after a few delays the kit arrived.

Hexy as was delivered.

So, step one.. open box and unpack..

Straight out of the box.

The kit came pretty complete, with a spare servo, parts for a spare leg, and even a screw driver to put it together with. Although the screww driver was small and not very useful.. I used one of my own.
The laser-cut acrylic parts came with protective paper on, which taking off was the most tedious part of putting the Hexy together. Also some acrilic parts needed a little trimming.

Now I could write about the whole building process, but better than that, here is a time-lapse video of a guy called Rob Cook building his (hats off to him for a very well created video)

Unfortunately, I didn't have a trouble free time with my Hexy. First I broke one part of a leg, but as they supplied an extra leg, I was able to replace this :) Second, one of the servos didn't work, but again they supplied an extra servo, so was able to replace this as well.

And the final result..

Once built, next came testing. Arcbotics supplied a python application for controlling the Hexy, the program is simple and contains some pre-programmed moves for the hexy. So after downloading this, connecting the Hexy to my laptop with a USB cable.. time for Hexy to dance..

With the Hexy I also got the Bluetooth module (you can see the flashing red light of the module on the Hexy). I did try to use this instead of the USB cable, unfortunately it would only work for one move and then stop working.

So, next thing to do is get this working properly, and to also write an Android application to connect to the Hexy via Bluetooth, and control it.