| Hopper Bot Leg by JMW |
| This is going to need a bit of explanation, the box on the right is a gearmotor, the long rectangle is the leg, and the zigzag thing is a spring, the the black line attaches the spring to the leg, and the other end of the spring attaches near the leg so that it is already streched a little. What should happen is the motor turns upwards, stretching the spring,, when the motor stops the force of the spring pulls the leg down propelling the robot foreward. In theory you could power the thing with a solar engine with a pretty big storage capacitor. The only problem is that a gearmotor would slow the spring too much, but it shouldn't be too hard to rig the motor to silp as the leg comes down. |
| I think that the egg shaped robot clearly demonstrates the process. Though I suggest a small set of legs in the front that make sure it lands properly. On a side note you can find springs at a local hardware store, though rubberbands would work and probably give you more options on size and strength. |
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| This is a simple mechansim that i came up with as a simple way of releasing the tension in the springs. By turning the leg with a gear attached to the gearmotor, and then removing of few teeth from the gear on the gearmotor side when the gear turns to a certain point the second gear will slip and the bot hops. When the motor turns again the remaining teeth catch as the process begins again. |