Spider Tank

[GhildZero]

Please give me detail of the mechanic...

[Menemenetekeluparsin]

Would love to have those motor sounds in high quality mp3 format ;)

[pouelchnu]

I just saw Hexbot's spider and I read somewhere that they stole your clever design. If it's true, that's a real shame. I would gladly buy one of these toys if at least I knew you were getting royalties. Are you now working for some toy company?

[darkheat246]

@pouelchnu If he didn't copyright or patent his idea with a legit design then to bad so sad. I support hex bug I love their spider and all their great products; I hope to see a flying one soon.

[marcosmunizrj]

qual a utilidade disso ?



[simoninsingapore]

Reminds me of a movie I saw when I was little: there were these jumping spider robots shooting acids. Can anyone tell me which movie I am thinking of?

[matzklim]

@simoninsingapore starwars

[elijahvivio1996]

oh no a spider tank *hits mine* oh wait 1 leg is damaged... its ok now

[devonj2000]

wow it can go over books so amasing

[Sakuya29]

yay ghost in the shell

[Deathbrat1]

wow nice subbed now

[soxprod]

where can i get one of these?

[MrAntraxx13]

awesome... but bigger would be cool...

[lavatun]

that. is. so. awesome. (o_O)

[diablo165]

this is really cool! I'm getting into robot bugs and saw on by a big company, then read up on how you're the inventor..i'm gonna hold off buying one til there's one that you actually profit from...hopefully that's soon!

[TheShinypalkia16]

its noisy

[JMEMantzel]

@TheShinypalkia16 You mean... uhhh... your computer speakers are.... uhh.. .noisy.

[djsufferthing]

Imagine Boston Dynamic's Big Dog with 6 legs! That would be so cool. :)

[Vaylemn]

Where can I buy your toy?

[JMEMantzel]

@Vaylemn With any luck, at lots of places. ....hopefully soon.

[MetaKnight23]

@JMEMantzel What do you think about the hexbug spider ? dont you think they have rights on that ?

[gizmo664100]

@JMEMantzel ya i saw that hexbug.inc copied it sorry they did :(

[Vaylemn]

doiii zzzdoiizzz doii zozziio ommmoii zzzzzoooii zzzzzzz

[jeffstukas]

That kind of reminds me of the tanks in Ghost in the Shell.

[Marc9521]

this thing will destory us all!!!!1!!!

[thanehunt]

This seems to be a very similar design to the Hexbugs toy "Spider". Did you sell them the design? Very impressive creation. A++

[JMEMantzel]

@thanehunt Uhh.... No. I didn't sell Hexbugs the design. They mysteriously got their hands on it right around the time the toy company I'm working with sent it to a factory in China for them to mass produce it.

Its all mighty fishy. Getting sucked into a stupid legal battle doesn't sound like fun either.

[thanehunt]

@JMEMantzel You should set your giant spider on them. That will show them who is boss.

[JMEMantzel]

@thanehunt Ya. Destroying them with a Giant Robot is one approach. :-P  ...or I could decide not to get sucked into their immoral world of crap, and go off in my own direction, and take most of their customers with me.

We can create a world where you buy things, and they're cool for more than 5 minutes. ...and there is honor and coolness instead of fat old executives deciding what you get, and basing all their decisions on how to rip you off.

Hmmm. Sounds like a lot of work.

[JMEMantzel]

@JMEMantzel Now it looks like they got their hands on it when I first sent it to a couple toy companies 2 years ago... both of whom turned me down...

[meow6669]

AMAZING!!! Make sure the mass produced version has a little camera in it and I'll buy it at a high price!!!!

[hyeclass]

they should use big ones in the army :) where a person can sit in it =) 

[godlike96]

if that was made into a real tank what would work very well

[5getlost]

dude you could scare the crap out of someone with that just needs to be more silent >.>

[TheDeathofGrace]

id love to see the links to the other spider toys.

[BlueFlashProductions]

Amazing! The way it moves reminds me of some Tim Burton stuff.

[panzuman]

really freaking awesome but its missing some legs....

[ThePie12121]

how ong until its in the stores i want it NOW!

[GSpotter63]

Good job, after watching your newest vid I understand exactly how you did it. I might try my hand at building a small one myself. (Quite sure he has a patent out on this one, so no, there will not be selling it).

[Hamiltonhxc3s]

Dude this is awesome if it was on the market i'd buy one

[mwcafac91]

Nice romance novels...

[1234jacee]

I would buy that. Are you selling it , by any chance?

[foxtrotHQ]

I want to make one from lego mindstorms NXT and make it detect obstacles and stuff, but i have absolutely no idea how to make such a omni-directional walker drive system. I can only make them go for/back-ward and steer.

[hitmankillzone]

now just paint it blue and it becomes a stalker from starcraft

[gagelamie1997]

thats fucking cool

[KingShade1]

You definately gotta me a vid with the Super C mini boss music!! Contra for NES!! Yeaaah Spider Tank boss

[datzfast]

its nice i really dont have more. i want to finsh my house so i can start my submarine.

[unambitious]

What is the name of the epoxy you used?

[Madmonkeythegreat]

Im still trying to figure out how ti works lol I want to make it out of legos!

[cronnudw]

ohh watch "ghost in the shell" if you haven't already.

[NeonString]

Beautiful! Any more vids of it? Are you still working on stuff like this?

[EZtrollin]

this thing looks like something from starwars, and that's a compliment, not some offhand comment

[TiagoTiagoT]

now make it go into a ball, roll, then uncurl and shoot lasers!!! Xp

[Madmonkeythegreat]

OMG how many motors does it use for the legs

[reltham]

This thing is so neat. I was up most of last night watching the Giant Robot Project videos while attempting to figure out how this works using lego. I built 3-4 failed contraptions, but today I am trying again.

[reltham]

So I got something worked out. Its kind of flimsy and unstable and I don't have the 2 motors hooked up, but it works enough that I can understand how it works. It's a really simple, but very cool design. @JMEMantzel your brain is awesome. I wouldn't have figured this out without watching the video a million times and staring at pictures of it.

[happygameshow]

cool have you posted any videos of your lego version?

[ercost60]

Great job!

[QwertyBeetle]

scientists have tried to make fast walkers

and you've cracked it good job

[JMEMantzel]

it goes 3 times that fast, actually. :-P I slowed it down to be easier on the joints. :-)

[Madmonkeythegreat]

looks like the smal spider droids from star wars

[bascomania]

absolutely incredible...

[ManilaCoolCat]

You know your invention kept me up all night trying to figure out how that little guy turn in the direction that you want it to. From what I observe in this video, I think it turns when it tilts its legs. I hope I'm right.

[pepene93]

well, if it has individual motors for each leg, then it can change the whole walking pattern to change direction.

[ManilaCoolCat]

I think I know now how it works! It's actually BIPEDAL. One motor is used to steer and the other powers 2 wheels to move the legs. The legs are not individual but it has 2 sets, and each set comprises of 3 legs. When the two wheels move in succession, they move the legs. I also figure out how it steers but it's hard to describe in words. But I know it moves the 2 wheels and the motor with it in the direction you want. Clever!

[44USELESS44]

it's pretty simple the thing has 6 legs if im not wrong at any point of time there are at least 2 legs on the ground. so when it changes direction, the two support legs moves and the moving legs become supports.. i guess haha hope it helps u? =]

[cr1tterp0wer]

AMAZING!

[easytolearnmagicstuf]

this thing is AWESOME!

5/5 and a new subscriber to you!

[hungrysparrow]

That's awesome!

[gbultimate]

very cool!

[JMEMantzel]

thanks!

[Sketch9816]

@JMEMantzel

[glock456789]

ITS KINDA CUTE!!!!!!!!!! but besides that did u make that? cuz if u did that would b awsome!!!!

[TheWoohooman]

Ahem. Spiders have 8 legs, not 6 legs!

[gainingguy300]

Could you be more of a literal, fuck?

[JMEMantzel]

no way.... you're like the 400th person to say that. Wow, you must be smart.

Ya know what else? Spiders also aren't plastic. ...or blind ...or have radio controls.

[dsavetark]

so cute

[supernoob86]

lol:) u r really good at making robots!

[croupier123]

very very very cool, where I can buy one of these? Good look with your project...

[JMEMantzel]

err..... this is the only one in existense at this time. I've tried submitting it to toy companies. The standard response "Wow, this is really amazing! ...but doesn't fit into our marketting scheme at this time."

Toy companies these days are such wusses. Won't do anyting new.

[easytolearnmagicstuf]

they said yes to the RoboSapien v2 and the follow-ups, but not this toy! i want it so badly!

[JMEMantzel]

ha ha. Ya. I'm amazed by all the crap toy companies ARE interested in. Oh well. I'll just have to manufacture it myself one day.

[Timepeice45]

That's one of the coolest thing I've seen in a long time!

[JMEMantzel]

thanks!

[rutgerhaase]

its mechanik isnt it?

looks like icecreem cups :)

[doomaniaco]

its an amazing mechanical robot,

almost it have an rc circuit that controls a direction motor, but the legs movement its just one DC motor always runing at one direction really a great work

(me e matado la cabeza tratando de replicarlo pero realmente es complicado jme de nuevo una gran felicitacion por un excelente diseño)

[JMEMantzel]

Thanks!

[Timepeice45]

Spider Tank Spider Tank, Does Whatever a Spider Tank Does!!

[JMEMantzel]

LOOK out!  here comes a spider tank!

[dwayne3000]

how do u control their movement from the servos?

and circuit as well.. wut chip do u use?

[JMEMantzel]

I just stole the radio control out of a toy boat. the rest is all mechanical. 2 motors move a bunch or gears and levers

[jpodejko]

does it only use one motor to operate?

[JMEMantzel]

2 motors. One to steer, one to propel

[MasterMike44]

awesome!

[JMEMantzel]

Sweet!

[mbunds]

Absolutely brilliant! Thanks for posting this!!!

[JMEMantzel]

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. :-)

[Raphy717]

really cool dude!! like really thats freaking awesome!

[JMEMantzel]

thanks!  I did my best. I'm almost finished making a 12ft tall one. :-)

[seanaarvold]

maybe try making the tips of its feet out of rubber. it might help it over objects like those books.

[JMEMantzel]

That might cause a problem. The way it is now, if it doesn't make it up something, the feet slide into the best position to make a new try.

If the feet couldn't slide, and it ran into something it didn't step onto, either it would stop, or the legs would break.

[swiftpool]

how do you get those motor thingys im still on those stupid electronic legos

[JMEMantzel]

I get most of my motors out of other things. ...like broken toys, old VCR's, junk like that.

[grrd333]

haha why have a robot spider when you can have a real one hmmm lol  its realy good wish i could make one

[JMEMantzel]

Well... real spiders have to be fed. I don't like doing maintenance on creatures. :-P

[kchididdy]

are you using servos for propulsion? what kind of microcontroller (if any)? you're stuff is awesome!

[JMEMantzel]

just motors. its mostly mechanical stuff

[RACOS666]

its kind a loud ...

[JMEMantzel]

is this some kind of conspiracy of people telling me its loud??? you control the volume on your computer.

[istariana86]

It is not loud by the volume of recoding, but the accuators of the legs are making much noise. I saw many constructions which didn't make so much noise (even not at all), but your tank makes is so much it couldn't be unnoticed.

[JMEMantzel]

uhhh.... I'm telling you I recorded it loud. If my voice was in there, it would sound like i was bellowing at you.

but.... I digress. I don't require you to believe me. Make up your own fantasy land. :-P

[Tomdabananaman]

Electric actuators and servos would be impractical in a large and full scale representation. I am confused why noise from a model is a real concern. On your larger model, are you going to increase the arm's vertical movement to improve elevation changes more easily?

[JMEMantzel]

Electronic servos are completely fine on a bigger scale.

I'm not sure what a full scale representation is. :-P Its that like 12ft tall? ...cuz thats what I'm making now.

and yes... I'm increasing the vertical movement on the big one to step over higher things.

[tw1745]

where did you get that?

[JMEMantzel]

I made it. ....from scratch.

[tw1745]

can you make a vid on how to make it?

[JMEMantzel]

hmmm.... maybe. I'm making video of making a bigger one. ....otherwise known as the giant robot project.

[harry3496]

The second one reminds me of the spider bot from toy story. The one with the creepy doll head attached to it. so cool @_@

[JMEMantzel]

ya. thats thing is funny. ...and creepy

[damianla12]

I am wondering if you could make it by 2 motors. How many are you using right now?

[JMEMantzel]

2 motors.

[zebadee277]

thats so cool! you ever tryd making a bigger 1? or maybe a tripod version :-D

[JMEMantzel]

uhhh, ya, actually. Like 12 ft tall. Check some of my other videos.

[SSGTWinters]

how big is this thing ? its awesome i want one and you should lookin to a grant from the army label it a recon drone or bomd defuser and yoru good to go plus you already have a protype ^^.

btw it the main body was mount back a lil it would look just liek a tachkoma tachikoma

[JMEMantzel]

Well... I'd write for grants, but.... if there's one thing I've learned in this world, its that paperwork and new ideas don't go well together. Ya just gotta do em. Seriously, I've sent this to toy companies who said its too unusual, and talked to a couple places that make machines for construction and the army who just never got back to me. I'm open to it, but.... not optomistic.

[SSGTWinters]

well writing nad showing are differant find a soilder *not a recuirter* and ask how can i make this better for you ?? and if its toys you after just start selling them make a page and sell em either as kits or preassbemled or both! i have faithi will see this toy on the market or in serivce soon .. btw as a mechianic i would really love to see one taht can help me under the car and in tight spaces ..if taht helps any creative spark . good luck & plz remember ppl like me whne you go big :)

[JMEMantzel]

Ya, I'll start selling them on my own eventually.... but first I have to manufacture more. ...and I have a lot of projects going on at the moment.

I really need to clone myself. :-P

[SSGTWinters]

XD yeha you do !

[AssassinXCV]

hey, i'd buy one of those too!!!!! i'd want to buy it as a kit cause then you get to build it, aka more fun!, hopefully there would be good instructions!!!

[JMEMantzel]

Ya, I think a kit would be cool. I could make lego instructions if I made a few key parts that don't come in lego. :-P

[AssassinXCV]

that would be sweet if you made kits and actually manufactured them, even if they are just a private company that you just sell on ebay and not actually have a store. Cause you dont need to pay any extra property tax when you have the kits at home, you wont have to pay rent for stores or property tax on stores if you buy 'em

[JMEMantzel]

ya.... I need to hire a goon to take over manufacturing of them. :-P

[AssassinXCV]

SWEET, once you finish producing them...or if you ever start to, i will buy one of those as long as they arent too expensive, my price range $100 - $200 and maybe $300 cause you designed it yourself and it better be good quality

[JMEMantzel]

Sweet. Don't worry. If I ever get to it (maybe next winter or something), I'll put a video up on youtube letting people know. :-)

[AssassinXCV]

hey, i'd buy one of those too!!!!! i'd want to buy it as a kit cause then you get to build it, aka more fun!

[HenryTheWalrus]

just mount a gun on it and its ready to go

[JMEMantzel]

I did actually design a cannon for it. Maybe I'll stick it on there when I finish my current projects. Oh wait, that'll take like forever!

[iscrapman]

Thats a neat piece of engineering .

[JMEMantzel]

Ya, I was kinda psyched when I figured it out. :-)

[inventormoh]

realy nice, good work man,i hope i can make one :)

[JMEMantzel]

Thanks. :-)

[mssnor]

LOL send this to the army and they'll improve it and make it a spider mine xD

[JMEMantzel]

ha ha. ya.  that would be funny if they blew up. err..... ok, not that funny.

[Mandarkan]

This is really awesome!

[JMEMantzel]

Thanks!

[wg352]

Pretty cool robot. Sell the design to the Army and you will not need to win the Lotto! --wg

[JMEMantzel]

set up the deal, and I'll gut you in for 20%

:-P

[CAFEYHUMO]

Very Nice!! Amazing reaction time!

[JMEMantzel]

thanks!

[sonicfox5]

gay

[JMEMantzel]

Wow. thanks for your input. I'm blown away by your eloquence.

[sonicfox5]

sorry about that its was my lil brow i told him not to be posting comments on my account but of couse he did not listen but imo i thinks its pretty cool

[SmokeTatum]

i think its easyest and best hexapod solution i ever seen and it looks realy good without all servomotors attached on leg parts like by most of hexapods nice work. youre an artist!

[JMEMantzel]

Well, thank you. :-) Thank you very much. :-D

[orcywoo6]

Maybe the army or something would want to buy this idea, because it would be able to start a new revolution of robot-based modern warfare.

Just imagine hundreds of these little robots all with guns attached running into a battle or patroling a base!

[Taloc111]

hmm i can already think of a walking turret with that thing! XD

[JMEMantzel]

Ya, its pretty much set up to have a cannon on the top. :-P

[falcord]

Good stuff! I love the way it turns, it's so smooth.

The design looks pretty solid, go for the big one!

I'm new into the robot building thing (Can't wait to study the master in robotics I'm aiming for). These videos are really inspiring :)

[JMEMantzel]

Aw, thanks! Its good to know someone is inspired. :-)

Good luck with the studying. :-D

[carmatic]

nice... so is this totally mechanical or does it have electronic control in the actual footsteps?

[JMEMantzel]

almost entirely annalog mechanical. 2 electric motors, and a radio control are the only electronics.

[carmatic]

nice... i bet that DARPA could use a similar design, having less electronics make it easier to defend against EMP attacks, which is what you would think robots are weak against....

also, i think that , in addition to rotation, it might be possible to translate pitching up/down to the leg movement, like for climbing or going down stairs, for example

[JMEMantzel]

yep, its pretty easy to pitch the legs. :-) ...didn't do it in this one because I was trying to keep it really simple.

[togaida]

yeah, septillion dollars doesn't exist...not yet, for now.

Black card member since 2000.

Soooo?

send me a message privately and we'll talk.

[bluerycold]

you should make leds on top of the head by the way i said one WORD= COOL ROBOT!!!!!!!!!!! lol

[JMEMantzel]

Hmmm.... for some reason, I don't see leds making it any better. maybe I just haven't given them a chance

[togaida]

Hell, I'd pay for blueprints and schematics for that little robot...as a matter of fact I just slapped my credit card on the table..name the price.

[JMEMantzel]

J- one septilllion dollars!

-----uh... Jaimie, that much money doesn't exist.

J- ok ok, a lot, than!

[kiml42]

I want one.

[JMEMantzel]

OH OH! Me too! Oh wait. uhh... never mind. Its upstairs.

[kiml42]

I feel the same way about my Wii sometimes.

[JMEMantzel]

hey now... I want a wii! Well, sort of... I played my little brothers, and it didn't take long to run through all his games.

[masterpiraka]

MAKE A BIGGER ONE!!!

Oh, wait...lol.

[JMEMantzel]

ya. heh heh, if only it were as easy to do as it is to say it. :-P

[killercuy]

Great work... just a little advice: improve the friction in the leg´s tips, maybe with rubber, and whatch solving obstacles easier! Also, you are going to improve the stability. Greetings and keep up the good work!

[JMEMantzel]

Ohh... I love getting "advice". Actually, sticky feet would ruin stability. The "slipping" allows the thing to push itself into a position where it can get a leg up on soemthing. ....as is get the highest part of its step up onto the obstacle.

Why can no one see that?

[pathammond]

I get what you mean i think man, all the legs would stick and it would end up kinda pushing upwards, possibly end up falling over? heh i'm crap at physics :)

[JMEMantzel]

Ya, kinda like that. :-P The legs would get stuck more easily.

[ANDRWjory]

JME - you rock bro, keep up the good fight man we love watching how you over come obstacles, albeit in what looks like an incredibly dangerous way. But seriously you inspire. One question, the - giant robot - please tell me your not going to sit inside it? remember how easily you could break the parts? I'm sure you know what your doing. (At least the coroner can watch the video ya:P)

[mokmantzel]

He knows what he's doing. trus me