Structural Elements for a Didactical Hexapod Robot and Experiments Related to its Control

Conceptually, two directions were addressed in the project of developing a hexapod robot platform for didactical activities. Thus, a simulator was first created for modeling several functional aspects of the desired hexapod robot. This was made entirely in the Matlab environment. Subsequently, a simplified model of the hexapod robot was built for real functional tests. The simultaneous existence of the virtual simulator as well as the real model of the hexapod robot allow various studies, for example related to behavioral comparisons for the purpose of developing and adjusting obstacle climbing strategies. This paper includes the main structural elements used for building the didactical hexapod robot platform for the above purpose. The paper includes also some simulated studies regarding the control of the legs to assure the robot stability on a flat surface.