root `index` legacy
Spider Robot — Version 3.1 The newest version of my hexapod robot! Talking about how I drastically improved the feel of the robot and showing you what it can do. `2021-06-23` Voltage Regulator Link • Download V3.1 Code • Download STLs The Problem Version 3 of my spider robot (which you can read more about above) had many issues. Here are a few: It was very twichy: the `servo motors` were constantly vibrating all over the place Its behavior was very inconsistent: as the current demand rose, the battery voltage was sagging way too much. The motors kept breaking: as soon as I kept the robot running for more than a few minutes, one of the motors always died for no apparent reason. My first thought was that the voltage supplied to the motors was slightly too high, and so I ordered a random 5V voltage regulator on Banggood, hoping it would help me fix some of the issues mentionned above. When I finally received it, I simply threw it in my electronics drawer and completely forgot about it. However, during a boring physics class last week, I figured I would install it onto the robot just to see what would happen. Let me tell you: I did not expect this tiny modification to solve so many issues. How Everything Unfolded As soon as I got the regulator installed, a massive difference was visible in the twichiness of the robot. The cheap servo motors were rated for `5V`, but the voltage of the LiPo battery ranged from `6.6V` when totally dischanrged to `8.4V` when fully charged. This meant three things: When the battery was fully charged, the servos caused the robot to be way too twichy because their low-quality controller couldn't handle such a higher voltage. When the battery was close to fully discharged, the robot was not as twichy, but its behavior was very inconsistend because of the caracteristic LiPo battery sag near `3.3V/cell`. The large voltage delta caused the low-quality servo controllers to burn out after a few minutes, meaning the motors kept breaking seemingly randomly. At this point, anyone that has any experience with electronics would scream at me: Just feed the motors constant voltage! And, as it turns out, this is exactly what a voltage regulator is meant to achieve. The New Version As some of the 3D-printed parts and the program were modified in this new version of the robot, below is an updated list of all the parts required to build it. STL Files — `6x` Tibia Piece, `6x` Femur Piece, `6x` Hip Piece, `1x` Upper Body Piece, `1x` Lower Body Piece The Program — Compile and upload it using the Arduino IDE 9G Servos — The robot requires 18 of them, but I recommend getting 24 in case some turn out to be defective Arduino Nano — You will have to select Old Bootloader in the Arduino IDE to upload successfully Male Pin Headers — Used to create the main power rails to connect to all servos behind the Arduino Nano Jumper Cables — Used to connect the battery to the main power rails and the receiver to the Arduino Nano 2S 700mAh LiPo Battery — Capacity doesn't have to be exact, but it must be a `2S`, `7.4V` LiPo Voltage Regulator — Make sure that the output voltage is `5V` and that it accepts `6.0V - 8.4V` as input voltage Radio Transmitter and Compatible Receiver — You can use any transmitter-receiver combo, as long as the receiver supports the PPM protocol. Otherwise, you will have to implement your own hardware interrupt to handle receiver signals. Here is a demo of version `V3.1` of my hexapod robot, which uses the new voltage regulator along with some replacement servos. Enjoy! youtube
© 2025 Emilien Breton `legacy/Spider-Robot/Version-3-1/index.md`

Spider Robot — Version 3.1

The newest version of my hexapod robot! Talking about how I drastically improved the feel of the robot and showing you what it can do. 2021-06-23

Voltage Regulator Link • Download V3.1 Code • Download STLs

The Problem

Version 3 of my spider robot (which you can read more about above) had many issues. Here are a few:

It was very twichy: the servo motors were constantly vibrating all over the place
Its behavior was very inconsistent: as the current demand rose, the battery voltage was sagging way too much.
The motors kept breaking: as soon as I kept the robot running for more than a few minutes, one of the motors always died for no apparent reason.

My first thought was that the voltage supplied to the motors was slightly too high, and so I ordered a random 5V voltage regulator on Banggood, hoping it would help me fix some of the issues mentionned above. When I finally received it, I simply threw it in my electronics drawer and completely forgot about it. However, during a boring physics class last week, I figured I would install it onto the robot just to see what would happen. Let me tell you:

I did not expect this tiny modification to solve so many issues.

How Everything Unfolded

As soon as I got the regulator installed, a massive difference was visible in the twichiness of the robot. The cheap servo motors were rated for 5V, but the voltage of the LiPo battery ranged from 6.6V when totally dischanrged to 8.4V when fully charged. This meant three things:

When the battery was fully charged, the servos caused the robot to be way too twichy because their low-quality controller couldn't handle such a higher voltage.
When the battery was close to fully discharged, the robot was not as twichy, but its behavior was very inconsistend because of the caracteristic LiPo battery sag near 3.3V/cell.
The large voltage delta caused the low-quality servo controllers to burn out after a few minutes, meaning the motors kept breaking seemingly randomly.

At this point, anyone that has any experience with electronics would scream at me:

Just feed the motors constant voltage!

And, as it turns out, this is exactly what a voltage regulator is meant to achieve.

The New Version

As some of the 3D-printed parts and the program were modified in this new version of the robot, below is an updated list of all the parts required to build it.

STL Files — 6x Tibia Piece, 6x Femur Piece, 6x Hip Piece, 1x Upper Body Piece, 1x Lower Body Piece
The Program — Compile and upload it using the Arduino IDE
9G Servos — The robot requires 18 of them, but I recommend getting 24 in case some turn out to be defective
Arduino Nano — You will have to select Old Bootloader in the Arduino IDE to upload successfully
Male Pin Headers — Used to create the main power rails to connect to all servos behind the Arduino Nano
Jumper Cables — Used to connect the battery to the main power rails and the receiver to the Arduino Nano
2S 700mAh LiPo Battery — Capacity doesn't have to be exact, but it must be a 2S, 7.4V LiPo
Voltage Regulator — Make sure that the output voltage is 5V and that it accepts 6.0V - 8.4V as input voltage
Radio Transmitter and Compatible Receiver — You can use any transmitter-receiver combo, as long as the receiver supports the PPM protocol. Otherwise, you will have to implement your own hardware interrupt to handle receiver signals.

Here is a demo of version V3.1 of my hexapod robot, which uses the new voltage regulator along with some replacement servos. Enjoy!

youtube