Cha-Cha Tarantula
For a school assignment, we had to create a “moving creature” using 3D-printing, arduino and a servo motor.
Because I think that it’s quite a shame that spiders get such a bad reputation, I wanted to create a friendly spider, and what is more friendly than dancing?
It became quite the challenge to create a dancing motion using only one rotating motor, but in the end I managed to create something I am very happy with! Especially considering at that point, I had not have had any prior experience with 3D-modeling, printing or programming.
The first prototype of the legs, I wanted to create a movement where the leg would fold in after a string would pull it inside. The torsion springs at the joints made the legs pop back up again.
These legs worked really well! But they were still quite flexible, and wouldn't be able to hold any weight.
So I printed a new design where the legs and the springs became a lot more sturdy. I shrunk the springs too so they became a lot stronger.
The first prototype for the body
The legs added to the prototype body
The improved version of the body
Here I added the legs to the body and started to string all of the legs to the servo motor.
The way I created the movement was through a pin that was rotating a centimeter around the axis of the motor. I added a loose circle to this pin which would prevent the strings from entangling with each other.
I carved a spider head out of foam and painted it white
I did the same with the body
I hollowed out the body to house the arduino board and power supply
After experimenting with texture, I ended up with adding sand to the spider and painting it white again.
After assembly it was done!
Finished in June 2023, First year Bachelor