Insectoid robot with router bit head carves a human face in high density foam

If you could get good accelerometers or some other kind of positioning, the robot could walk over a 4x8 sheet of ply and CNC out holes all over. Tank treads might be a better style for moving while cutting though.

Being able to scale to almost any size could make a commercial version of this less expensive than a massive CNC router table.

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#5 posted by fnc , November 10, 2008 12:50 PM

In the coming robocalypse they'll probably just be carving human faces.

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#6 posted by unklstuart , November 10, 2008 1:09 PM

Beware of the sound. This is like a spear through your head. But does remind me that I need to go to the dentist.

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#7 posted by zorlack , November 10, 2008 1:23 PM

Me and a friend recently shot some footage of our bot carving a monster out of high density foam. Its a lot of fun. http://www.flickr.com/photos/thereisanothermoei/2936668868/

Bottom Line: Timelapse CNC = Awesome. Bonus points if it involves robot spiders.

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#8 posted by technogeek , November 10, 2008 1:30 PM

Flagged the spammer.

I'm sorta impressed; I didn't know the servos on the bug-bots were that precise. I presume the cutting pattern was designed to limit the hysteresis error from flexibility/slop in the system. (I did notice that they gave it notches to stand in so cutting force wouldn't move the whole bot.)

I'm curious about what material they were cutting in. It took details pretty well.

As far as having it walk and then continue cutting... I think you'd need either optical or force feedback so it could orient itself from the edges of the first cut, and even then you'd have issues of designing a pattern which leaves it stable places to stand. But it'd be fun to attempt.

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#9 posted by arkizzle , November 10, 2008 1:35 PM

Very impressive! Really, really nice. Well done Matt!

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#10 posted by shmengie , November 10, 2008 2:25 PM

38 minutes? totally lame. i could knock that out in 37 minutes, easy.

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#11 posted by robulus , November 10, 2008 4:12 PM

Hmmmmm... a bit rough here... just let me clear away the dust and... OH GOD THE PAIN!!!! STOP PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!!! MY FINGERS MY FINGERS!!!!!

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#12 posted by IWood , November 10, 2008 4:24 PM

When the high density foam revolution comes, insectoid robots will be the first against the wall, man!

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#13 posted by urza9814 , November 10, 2008 5:08 PM

"As far as having it walk and then continue cutting... I think you'd need either optical or force feedback so it could orient itself from the edges of the first cut, and even then you'd have issues of designing a pattern which leaves it stable places to stand. But it'd be fun to attempt."

I think it could easily figure out where to stand while cutting the pattern - just stand behind where you've cut, just as if you're mopping a floor, you stand behind where you've mopped.

As for orienting itself...perhaps you could set up towers on each side of the material you're cutting to act as a sort of miniature GPS system. Have the towers send out IR or radio or some form of beacon and it could determine it's position based on timing or signal strength. Or even erect a wall around the area to be cut and simply put a couple IR range finders on the robot so it can detect it's distance from the walls.

Of course, any kind of system like that would be _extremely_ slow...but it'd be quite interesting, and if you have the time but not the money, it'd be a decent alternative to an expensive CNC machine for large projects. Heck, start it up before you go to work, maybe it'll be done when you get home. Or by the weekend.

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#14 posted by Anonymous , November 10, 2008 5:19 PM

Looks like Brian Eno to me.

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#15 posted by Takuan , November 10, 2008 5:37 PM

sculpture? Pah! Imagine a motorized tongue. Mammalian priorities - so predictable.

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#16 posted by Anonymous , November 10, 2008 6:41 PM

Think of the size of the bot that was used to do the one on mars! And NASA say Phoenix may be dead. I'm scared.

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#17 posted by badger500 , November 10, 2008 8:14 PM

It jumps from 7 min to about 16 min and only then is when the actual face is carved. What is shown is the robot polishing the edges. The least interesting part, of course.

Also, the right front foot slips around 2:19 into it, and I'm surprised that with the likelihood of slipping there wouldn't be loss of registration of the robot's position and so the face would not come out right every time--I'd need to know more about how it works.

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#18 posted by FrankenPengie , November 10, 2008 8:32 PM

You know those windshield-washers in New York? One day your gal is going to be chatting with a friend.

"Yeah, I kinda wish my nose was a little thinner here and didn't have this bump."

Then a big metal bug is going to run up and climb up to her face. Thirty eight minutes later some guy missing half his teeth is going to say, "That'll be fifty bucks lady".

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#19 posted by adralien , November 10, 2008 8:40 PM

URZA9814 and TECHNOGEEK

I think using accelerometers you would have two, one at the front of the robot, and one at the rear... if the robot spins each accelerometer would register a different motion, giving you the direction of the bot. Since you know the direction and distance traveled you know the tool location. As math books always say "the solution is left to the reader".

I was thinking about it a bit more, and I think the "easiest" way to do a large bot that mimics a gantry/router CNC would be two tracked bots linked by a more conventional gantry... you have your rigidity and your Y axis easily, and the bots drive for the X.

I would love to see a hexapod climbing over an emerging workpiece though.

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#20 posted by soupisgoodfood , November 10, 2008 11:29 PM

technogeek: I think they are digital servos, which are very powerful and precise compared to normal analogue servos. That would also explain all the high-pitch buzzing that isn't the drill bit.

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#21 posted by Anonymous , November 11, 2008 12:32 AM

I foresee a robotic version of Sandkings in the near future.

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#22 posted by star35