Old Myspace Post

So, despite my 142 views on 2 posts, I've decided that my blog sucks. I try to make it witty and interesting like all the other blogs out there, but really, I'm just too damn dorky for that kind of stuff to be interesting to me. SO! Here's the new blog, where I post boring crap that only my engineer friends will find interesting.

The first challenge is a geometry problem, inspired by Theo Jansen's work as shown on Youtube.

Take these coordinates:

o is theta, from 0 to 2pi(). [drawing hints are shown in brackets]

Initial Points:
A:0,0
B:15cos(o),15sin(o)
C:0,38

Lines:
CD=41.5, BD=50, [with Dy>0]
DE=55.8, CE=40.1, [with Ex>Cx]
CF=39.3, BF=61.9, [with Fy less than Cy]
EG=39.4, FG=36.7 [almost making a square, CEFG]
GH=49, FH=65.7, [Hy less than Fy]

By rotating AB, H moves in a path that is extremely flat at the bottom (slope 11.86 degrees from horizontal), with a shallow takeoff point, and steep drop to the flat area. Basically, if you put this on a robot with connection points A and C fixed, the robot could step up onto things, and travel with little or no vertical interference. Walking CFB or bicycle, anyone?

The challenge is to define Hx and Hy as functions of theta only. You can then change the lengths of the lines, and see how to modify the foot motion to an application. I tried doing this on my TI, and let it run overnight to solve Dx. It was so slow, I gave up, but maybe there's someone out there who wants to do it (Ben Jacobs, perhaps).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2KkGFuRLew&feature=related