Imperial AT-AT Walker Robot - The force is with me!

DJ Sures

Canada
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This year i made a decision to get back into building robots. So, I'll start with this! Kind of ironic, an Imperial AT-AT Walker that doesn't know how to walk... yet!

Tomorrow I will add servos for the knees and teach him to walk. I'm allergic to dogs, so he'll have to do!

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#1  

Did you buy this as a kit or did you 3d print it? I have always liked quadrupeds better than hexapods, but walking is a challenge..... At least he won't pee on stuff a rip your house apart when you're not at home...:P

I am really happy you are building again.... Isn't that what drove you to start ez robot in the first place?... Don't lose your passion, man.... and as much as it pains me to say... EZ Robot just isn't worth it... Yes, all of us here want the latest and greatest stuff from ez robot (myself included), but I personally miss your early videos you made before ez robot was an official company. They were passion driven, not corporate driven... I still load and watch them from time to time... We got to share in your passion for building and programming.... It was those early videos that really got me interested again in building robots....

...anyway you might still want to consider a baby gate or crating little At-At when you're not home just to be sure....:P

#2  

Man once you get that thing up and walking you're gonna get mad press on the net. Hack a day probably gonna pick it up. Lots have done the R2 build but I haven't seen any AT-ATs.

#4  

I gotta echo Richard, I'm glad you're back to building. You were such a inspiration in my decision to turn my B9 into a "real" robot rather than a puppet. When I saw your early video of WALL-E I knew I could build my childhood dream of having a full sized B9 robot and make him seem like the real thing. The first few times I watched the vid I had no idea what EZ Robot was or that it was even available to us want-to-be robot makers. I just thought it was something you had soldered together, through in a few chips and programed to do this stuff and maybe even using something like an arduino. I was so overwhelmed just trying to understand how to build this thing and was watching and reading everything I could that everything was running together in my mind. Then I found a post somewhere about EZ Robot and looked up your web site. That's the day automating my B9 to a level I had never dreamed of for a guy of my limited robotic talents became possible and simple. That was back in the early V3 days. Then I realized (after I bought my first V3 EZB) that that guy doing the WALL-E video was you, DJ!

I hope you have the time to document this build and the programing with videos. I'd love to see how you have modified the toy, installed the servos and run the cables. That part is really at the heart of letting EZ Robot show off it's potential (in my opinion). However I'm a builder at heart, mind and body and lots of concepts of ARC still are a mystery to me (even after all these years). I've been spending most of my time building the B9 and his arms and making them move with simple EZ Scripts through ARC.

I'm looking forward to looking over your project to see how you've programed and coded this At-At. It's one of the coolest things the Star Wars people ever came up with. I love the personality you have already coded into this At-At of yours. And it moves so smooth! This is going to be a huge help to me in programing my B9 arm that I've been building. The building part is now done and after a few tweaks I'll be looking over yours and others codes to try to make it look somewhat human when it moves. ;) You're still an inspiration to me!

PRO
Synthiam
#5  

Thanks everyone! I have indeed been documenting the build. It took about 3 hours to build it with stopping to video record everything. Should hire someone to follow me around so i can work quicker:D.

The last two years were super awesome but distracting from my hobby's. You know, the things that make you, you? I am guilty of dismissing them and it's been long overdue! Expect more details about this project soon and many new projects to come!

#6  

@DJ... to be honest, I am more excited about this side of you.... The new stuff you (ez robot) create is awesome, but it's what the public wants and it's a logical business decision... However, when you are having fun creating (working on your own projects), that's when (in my opinion) you create the best ez robot stuff...

Go for it.... If you can make your at at walk I will be seriously impressed....:)

#7  

Quote:

Should hire someone to follow me around so i can work quicker Grin.
No, you should build a robot to do that. Maybe even use a drone to follow you around and go to various positions via voice commands. Direct it on the fly as you do the mods. "Go to front" "Lower" Higher" Back off" "Come closer". That would make your videos 20% cooler:) . CamBot would be a neat project in itself. If not a drone, maybe a robot arm mounted cam (or 2). A drone, however, could follow you from one place to another. But then so could something on wheels with a long pole and an arm mounted on top.

PRO
Synthiam
#8  

I've added knees. The ankles are loose, so i'm looking at a few options. Once i tighten the ankles, he'll be walking soon. Here's the knee test...

#9  

Ya, I want to see it walk too. It's getting closer.

PRO
USA
#10  

Way fun! I love it. Glad to see you getting back to having fun, because if you aren't having fun, its work.

PRO
Synthiam
#11  

Needs a few tweaks... but he's alive:)

#12  

So cool... Love the winch action... Are you using hitec 805bbs for the hip joints and ez-robot servos for the knee joints?

United Kingdom
#13  

@DJ.

It's so good to see you getting back to making robots, and the AT-AT is a great choice. I always liked these when watching Empire when I was a kid.

Great test video too so thanks for sharing. Once you dial everything in for walking, this will be a great marketing idea what with the new movie coming up in a few weeks...

Bring your Star Wars toys to life, with EZ-Robot!

or something like that, lol. Like the others have said, your earlier builds were an inspiration to me too when I first came across EZ-Robot, and to see you having fun and getting back to building will surely be inspiration to others. I'll look forward to the next update. So good to see an AT-AT moving around and moving so well. Nicely done.:D

PRO
Synthiam
#14  

Thanks @Steve

Here's another video while working on the GAIT. I will add some weights to the body for even balance. The weight of the head and it's position causes him to lean forward. Some rear counter weights will help with that. I may also add weights to the feet, since they're hollow.

#15  

You have to document this build... At Christmas Sue and I always do a Star Wars marathon thing... You have inspired me to update my Interactive R2D2 that I originally used an ezb3 with. It was sitting (ezb-less) on the shelf collecting dust.... The V4 with camera is going to make it even better...:) Thanks!

PRO
Synthiam
#16  

A few more tweaks and added sound...

#17  

Nice work ! The force is with ez-robot... builders

PRO
Synthiam
#18  

I'm using HS-755MG for the hips and ez-robot heavy duty servos for the knees and head. The winch is the ez-robot continuous rotation servo. The turret is the ez-robot micro servo.

#19  

HI DJ,

yes really nice work! And i must say he is a really good "dog" ;-)

Boris

#20  

Nice! but just seems so wrong turning a troop carrier into a dog, heheh

PRO
Synthiam
#21  

George Lucas shouldn't have made it look like a dog! An attack dog, with laser blasters!

#22  

LOL! Classic! Bodily functions are always good for a laugh. Love it!

PRO
Canada
#23  

What, @RoboHappy, you haven't seen this video?!? ;D lol

Someone did it digitally already, why not real life, right?!?

By the way Awesome job @DJ:)

#24  

Hahaha! That was great! Thanks, I needed a good smile today.

#25  

At work so I haven't had time to watch the videos yet. Are you using the orientation sensor to have it take corrective action of it starts to fall over?

Alan

United Kingdom
#26  

That's a new one for me Jeremie... Very funny. Thanks for posting that, it did make me laugh.

DJ, you nailed the walking really well. Love his dance moves too. You have given your AT-AT such character now you'll have to give it a name.;)

PRO
USA
#28  

DJ, Glad you went back to playing with technologies to expand it. I found your robot controller last winter and I love it, i program just simple ladder logic and love the way you can expand on the EZ. i just hope you expand it more and teach us old dogs a bit more. As to the rest of community ... Thumbs up to the max this is the best forum I have ever been a part of, the learning curve and challenge makes this a very good hobby!

What about the robo 3d printer my wife will get me for x-mas :;

again DJ keep with your love and show us more!

Roller

#29  

Loved the build so much, I had to get one myself to convert. Have you seen the playschool version? It's like a child version of the larger At At . Did you use the original Kenner version or the Hasbro version?

PRO
Synthiam
#30  

I have a video of the build in raw snipplets sitting on my laptop. Even the unboxing - which will tell you what version it is. At the top of my head, i'm unsure:) I recall the box had a lot of green and black on it! If that helps?

I'll get that video rock'n someday soon!

#31  

This is a wonderful build. I am so glad you are back to building robots! I just got 2 AT AT walkers off ebay and will be getting a 3rd. I also just got the newest R2D2 RC Interactive Droid. It would make for a great EZ-Robot project.

#32  

Ok, I've been looking at your product line for a while and I'm willing to give up my servo controllers and arduino boards I you can answer this question for me. Did you program the gait using only the ARC software? Because that would be amazing. I have a scratch built quadruped that i don't know how to program. Thanks

PRO
Canada
#33  

I'm not @DJ but I can assure you that, yes, the gait was created with ARC:)

I've created a few walking gaits myself using ARC and it's a huge time saver!

#34  

@Kablerecord Yes, DJ used ARC's "servo auto positioner control"... The servo auto positioner in ARC is a God send in animating multi servo robots. I use it exclusively with my inMoov....

PRO
Synthiam
#35  

Kable, my project is available in the ezcloud robot AppStore. Install ARC and you can load my project to build from. Maybe you can perfect my gait:)

#36  

Wow, this is exciting! I had no idea there was something like this out there. Thanks guys for the responses

#37  

You can program it with ARC and even voice control it too! Use the camera to give your quadruped vision so it can track moving objects, colors, or faces. This gives it even more life! EZ Robot makes building and programming robots Easy and fun. If you need anything helpful robot builders will respond!

#38  

@DJ, I'm curious. How close are you to finishing your build? It looks like a great project to work on, so I purchased one off of ebay, and it will be here in a couple of days. I cant wait to see the video! Keep up the great work! You inspire us all!:)

PRO
Synthiam
#39  

Thanks Joseph! I haven't spent much time on it since the video. Maybe I will start again on it in the new year.

Australia
#40  

Wow! that is cool DJ! I would love to see it going it and interacting more as it would help my dog-bot build idea a lot in my previous post!

Dog and Animal Robot thread

I am still mulling over what system of yours to work with for my weird ideas but just two days at this site has taught me so much (I can make teddy bears and plushies, I am just trying to get them moving!)

This AT AT and the cute video of the doggie one has given me a lot of ideas. Thanks heaps DJ and all the rest of the builders here.

Boofy

#41  

DJ, are the new HDD servos stronger than the hip servos you are using on your AT AT? From what I can find the HS-755MG servos are 14.4 KG/cm at 6v. Your HDD servos work very well.

#42   — Edited

Now this was another great robot build from DJ ! I can say i have used the HDD servos 2 years now designed by Jeremie if I remember correctly. Never any slow down or problems. Used for 2 different robots now at lifting arms from shoulder point pivot.Really strong for something not very bulky!:D