There are countless kits to assemble robots, or projects that robotics bring you closer home or educational settings. A very interesting project of this type is kame robot, a quadruped that you can print with your 3D printer. In addition, this initiative is Spanish, coming out of B.Q. Labs and with many other interesting aspects.
If you still did not know this robot, here you can learn a little more about it, and even know others existing alternatives and much more…
What is Kame robot?
Kame robot is a Spanish project, a type of quadruped robot that is programmed thanks to Arduino IDE and whose components can be printed on a printer 3D. Furthermore, it is based on the popular NodeMCU ESP8266 module to provide it with WiFi connectivity and control it by means of commands sent from your PC. You will also need a small Li-Po battery as a power source.
On the other hand, it has full mobility, 8 DOF (degrees of freedom), oscillator-based algorithms, and the ability to perform various movements, from moving forward, backward, turning, to jumping, dancing, etc. And for all this to be possible, it has 8 servomotors, 2 on each of its legs. The motors have been located on the yaw axis and another one acting on the articulated parallelogram of the roll axis.
Free software has been used for its design, since it has been created using FreeCAD and thought so that anyone with a 3D printer can create it. In fact, its design files are open source, licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA. And all thanks to Javier Isabel and BQ Labs, who are its architects.
How to assemble Kame robot
In the repo of this project you can find the instructions necessary to assemble and program Kame robot, and also the files with the designs of the parts to download and print on your 3D printer. Specifically, there are 9 .stl files, for the body, the different parts of the legs, etc.
In addition to printing the parts of its structure, to finish Kame robot you will also need to acquire other Electronic components to give it life (they can be these brands or of the same characteristics):
- 1 ESP8266 NodeMCU Module
- 8 Turnigy TGY-396G-HV ultra-fast servos
- 1 Turnigy Nano-Tech 460 mAh 2S Battery
- Screws and threads:
- 8 M2 4MM Hex Head Screws
- 32 M2 6mm Hex Head Screws
- 10 M3 8mm Hex Head Screws
- 12 M3 30mm Hex Head Screws
- 4 M3 threads
- 18 M3 nyloc threads
- No products found.
- 2 x 12mm eye stickers (Optional)
Alternatives and similar projects (printbots)
Others alternative printbots to the Kame robot that are printable and open-source are:
- inmoov: It is a 3D printable robot project that can be created for about € 800, and controlled with Arduino. This robot has a humanoid body, is large, and was created by the French Gaël Langevin.
- Farmbot: It is more than a robot, as it is a complete open source and printable agriculture project. Thanks to this project you will be able to set up a home garden with CNC automation.
- iCub: It is a robot "child" also open source, and that uses AI algorithms for its functions. Simulates a 4-year-old boy, with a height of 1.04m and 22 kilos in weight.
- Darwin-OP- Another open source platform for building humanoid robots capable of endless movements, including playing soccer, getting up from a fall, etc. Created by Romela Lab, with 45 cm high and a weight of 2.9 kg.
- miniskybot- A printable, open source, educational robot. In addition, free tools have been used for its design, such as Linux, OpenSCAD, FreeCAD, KiCAD, and the SDCC compiler for C programming.