Convergence

Or the Subtle artof falling over.....

Well this is where we try and make your pileof wire and batteries walk. This is kind of the counter intuitive partof the whole thing. Most people are of the misunderstanding that in orderfor a Robot to remain on its feet it has to be balanced at all times. Thisis the train of thought that leads to so damn many 6 leg walkers, threelegs is a stable platform from which to move your other three. Athoughtthis is in some cases sucsessfull it makes for a robot that dosn't adaptwell. Walking should be thought of as controlled falling. StaticBalance is not the key, rather its Dynamic Imbalance.....

Methods of ajustment...
There are several ways to make your walkerstumble around right............
All of which are in some way related to thecenter of gravity of your bug....
None is more important then the others noris it possible to make it walk without ajusting all of them......
1: Nv Time value
You'll note that in its raw state the Nv isjust an RC time value (but remember it is not a constant, it ajusts itself
acording to load). So at a base level youcan change the Duration of Rotation ofeach of the motors. One
MegOhm is the default value, it is just agood starting point. You can ajust the values as big as 20 MegOhm or a
low as a few KOhms. By changing the durationof the leg's movment you change where it stops. If you think of
the Walker as a firstclass lever and the feet as fulcrums you'llsee that the position of the leg when it stops is
crucial to which direction it tips.
2: Wieght Redistribution
This one is kinda Obvious, by moving the componentsfrom front to back you change the Center of gravity. The
Batteries are a good candidate for this sincethey are invariably the heaviest thing on the bug.
3: Leg Shape
This is the thing most likly to change dramaticallyby bending the legs back and forth you change the fulcrum
point and thus the balence. Remember thatcontact point is more critical than leg shape (refer to the Leg
Mechanics Section).
Baby Steps:

    All Parents take great joy inwatching there children take their first steps...

    Joy Is not usually the emotionthat Robotisists feel....

    More like "why the hellain't it working" frustration....

    Patience.

What It should be achieving:
    The easiest way to get an idea about whatthe legs should be doing is to step through the motions manually …..

    This is where that compliance thing comes inif you can’t move the legs manually then the motors are not gonna providean appropriate feedback to the MicroCore…

    By twisting the front leg CW approx. 45 degoff center and the back leg approx. 30 deg CW you have what we’ll callstart position. The Walker should now be balanced with it’s front leftfoot in the air and be just on the verge of tipping forward onto it.

    This is where the dynamic imbalance thing comesin, the bot Literally falls over onto its front foot.

    You should be able to tell if its at the tippoint by giving it’s butt a little tap, it should tip to the front footand stay tipped. If it doesn’t try moving the battery front or back inorder to find the balance point (leg configuration will come later). Thenext step (literally) may or may not be obvious (depending on how lateyou’ve stayed up to get to this point). By moving the back legs CCW youwill move the fulcrum back thus making the front tip down and the rearright foot raise off the ground. Keep rotating it until you have moved60 deg or so, the front two feet and the back left one should be flat onthe ground and the rear right will be just off the ground towards the frontof the walker.

    The walker has just completed a half a cycle(two Nv processes)

    Now by moving the front leg CCW 90 degs youwill provide lift and drive with the front left foot and raise the frontright in the air just to the tipping point. Now its time for the rear toproduce the drive forward that tips the walker forward and raise the rearleft foot while stepping. This is done by rotating the rear CW 60 deg.

    TADAA! One walking cycle and a full loop aroundthe MicroCore….

    Now Go through that few times manually withpower off and familiarize yourself with what it should be achieving. Youmay have to move the battery around and change the legs a little. But rememberthat Symmetry is VERYimportant. In order for both sides to be doing the same thing you haveto have the feet contacting in the same place with respect to the body(how the leg gets there isn’t as important). see legmechanics

    The body should also sit flat when all feetare down and the legs are straight out. If the body leans, then one legis shorter than the others and your bug will limp (so would you if oneleg was shorter than the other…).