The QuadCrawler is the largest and lightest of all aluminum quadruped kit available today. The QuadCrawler inherits the same efficient and powerful leg design as its larger cousin the HexCrawler. Expansion of your QuadCrawler kit is easy with the 3DOF upgrade kit and add-ons from Parallax, like the Hitachi Compass Module, and RF modules. Couple the QuadCrawler hardware extensibility with the the BS2-IC, Board of Education, and Parallax Servo Controller and you have an unbeatable combination.
Key Features
We believe that a Quadruped should have some key material and construction features to be a truly useful and robust robotic platform. Our QuadCrawler features include:
- Super stiff yet light construction material - All aluminum components are precision CNC machined from incredibly strong .063 ga. 5052 aluminum sheeting.
- Integrated Pem Stud Pivot Points - Pem studs are super smooth, solid aluminum spacers that are pressed into the aluminum body of the QuadCrawler with more than 300 pounds of pressure. These spacers are used as the servo pivot points for all of the QuadCrawlers legs. The combination of these spacers and the solid design and aluminum components are what gives the QuadCrawler it's overall rugged design and payload capacity.
- Integrated Pem Nuts - Pem nuts are used throughout the key support points (16 in total) of the QuadCrawler. Pem nuts are nuts that are pressed into the aluminum sheeting with more than 200lbs. of pressure. Pem nuts lower the number of loose parts in our kits which makes our kits quick and easy to construct. Pem nuts also allow you to have quick and easy access to the lower deck of the QuadCrawler without removing major construction components.
- Horizontally Centered Leg Design - To ensure equal, physical, horizontal movement of all legs during the QuadCrawlers walking cycle, the legs have been physically designed to align with the horizontal leg servos.
- Pass Through Leg Design - Having the ability to expand and add lots of additional electronics and sensors to your hexapod is a key component of robotic experimentation and development. The QuadCrawler's "pass-thru" leg design allows you to route and secure electronics at any point on the legs of the QuadCrawler without wire or electronic components being exposed or interfering with the operation of the QuadCrawler.
- Dual Deck Electronics Mount Design - The QuadCrawler has been designed so that you can mount the controlling electronics either on top of the upper deck or mounted inside,top of the lower deck. Also, the front and rear support brackets can swing open to allow easy access to the inside of the QuadCrawler for battery and electronics installation or removal.
- Material: Super strong .063 Gauge 5052 aluminum with type II anodizing for weather and scratch resistance
- Dimensions: Overall dimensions - 12" X 15.25" leg to leg
- Prototyping Space: Over 131 sq. inches of total prototyping space is available on the QuadCrawler body.
- Height: 6" standing, 4.86" squatting
- Ground Clearance: 3.5"
- Payload Capacity: TBD - To be determined
- Leg movement: 2 degrees of freedom (vertical and horizontal) for the standard kit and 3 degrees of movement with the 3 axis leg upgrade kit.
- Weight: 2.5 lbs. with all servos
- Servos: 8 HiTec HS-322HD heavy duty Servos
- Electronics: Parallax Board of Education (BOE), BASIC Stamp 2 module (BS2-IC), and the very powerful Parallax Servo Controller (PSC)
The number of control and programming options are limitless with the QuadCrawler and we are always developing more (see the downloads section on the product page for a complete list of current programs). We offer the following control options:
- Pushbutton control (included in the standard QuadCrawler kit)
Allows the user to cycle through the different walking gaits and control direction.
- Distance Detection
A distance sensor with circuit components and sample code is provided for complete QuadCrawler autonomous control.
- R/F (Radio Frequency, sold separately)
Using the Parallax 5 function key chain transmitter / receiver combination.
