How to Make the QuadBot

Make this robot and you will master Electronics, Coding 3D Design and 3D printing. It's also WAY more interesting that any wheeled robot is. It's got legs and creeps around, and who doesn't love that!?

This Instructable is for the super popular Kickstarter project, so we wrote this after many people asked to see how the QuadBot is assembled. You can pick up the QuadBoard and other parts you need from the Kickstarter here.

Please note though, that this instructable is for the Prototype robot. The final one we'll send out after the Kickstarter will have some modifications to make assembly easier.

Anyway let's begin!

You will need

• 1 x QuadBoard
• 12 x Mini Servos
• 1 x 3.7V LiPo Battery
• 3D Printed parts or...
• 3D Printer and
  • Laptop with 3D Printing software installed (Cura)
• Laptop with Arduino Installed

You can get all these parts on our Kickstarter!

You can pick up all the parts pre-printed from our Kickstarter, or you can print them yourself. We like to use the Ultimaker 2 and Cura slicing software, but you can use any standard hobbyist 3D Printer, like the Printrbot and Makerbot.

The following print settings are best to use, and expect the printing in total to take up to 20 hours.

Nozzle Size - 0.4mm

Layer Height - 0.25mm

Wall Thickness - 0.7mm

Infill - 20%

Print Speed - 70mm/s

Enable Combing

Enable Support

Enable Skirt

Print one at a time

The Motor Centre code sends signals on all motor connections on the QuadBoard to get the motors to move to their centre position.

You'll need to make sure that this code is already running on the QuadBoard before you start plugging in motors and assembling QuadBot. When the motors are centred, you know exactly how to mount the parts onto the motors as you build QuadBot.

You'll need to download the sketch below and run it. Make sure you have the Adafruit Neopixel library and Adafruit PWM servo library installed.

Choose the board as Arduino Leonardo, turn on the QuadBoard and hit Upload.

The Board should glow purple when uploaded.

You'll assemble QuadBot leg by leg. First layout all the parts you'll need for the first leg, including..

• 3D Printed parts
  • Toe
  • Foot Ball
  • Foot Cross
  • Knee Ball
  • Knee Cross
  • Hip Ball
  • Hip Cross
  • Pelvis
  • Stub
• 3 x Servos
• 3 x Servo horns
• 3 x M3x15mm spacers
• 6 x M3x10mm screws
• 3 x M2.5x8mm screws
• 1 x M2.5 self tapping screw

Pop the pelvis into one of the holes in the QuadBoard.

Then pop the servo motor into the pelvis, with the servo shaft facing towards the outside of the QuadBoard.

Then finally push the stub into the pelvis, between the QuadBoard, and use the self tapping screw to hold it down.

Plug in the servo motor and turn on the QuadBoard, the servo will centre itself.

First place the servo horn onto the servo output shaft. Align it so that the cross is perfectly vertical as in the picture.

Place the hip cross onto the horn. Make sure that the hip cross fits onto the horn tightly, then screw it down.

Insert the servo into the hip cross, it should press fit tightly into the part and require no screws to keep it in place.

Now take the hip ball piece and insert the hex spacer, screw it in at the other end to keep it from falling out.

Finally push the hip ball onto the other side of the servo, and use a screw in the top of the hip cross to keep the two parts together.

As before, attach the servo horn to the servo inside the hip section. Make sure that the horn is perfectly vertical as in the first picture.

Now take the knee cross and snap it onto the servo horn (noticing a pattern yet?). Use an M2.5 screw to fix it.

Fit the next servo into the knee cross part; again it should press fit in tightly.

Take the knee ball piece and insert a hex spacer, use an M3 screw to fix this in.

Snap the hip ball onto the other side of the servo, and use an M3 screw to fix the two hip pieces together.

Fix the servo horn onto the servo. Again ensure that it is vertically aligned just like before.

Now place the foot cross onto the horn and screw it in place.

Take the foot ball and place the hex space inside it. Screw it in with the M3 screw to keep it in place. Now place the toe over the spacer and into the football.

Finally place the toe + foot ball assembly into the foot cross and screw the whole thing together with a M3 screw.

Great job! That's one leg done!

Repeat steps 5,6,7 and 8 to complete the remaining three legs.