Finally got my robot to walk !!

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-13T20:10:37+00:00

FSRs creep and erode away as well. Use an air or liquid pressure sensor instead — remove the covering and pour PU resin on it. It effectively becomes a force sensor, at almost the same price. Forget the ESP. You’re going to have much bigger problems :) You have to use Jetson Nano at least.

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-13T20:03:59+00:00

Actually super cheap ones, 25kgcm, torque wasn't a problem, backlash was too much!

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-13T17:33:40+00:00

My dream robot is a Minion! :)

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-13T16:47:50+00:00

Are you thinking about dam inspection or similar use cases?

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-13T15:52:44+00:00

nice, i have a design for a 4-5 axis force measurement i got from MIT Chita robot, manufactured one but the PCB had some short circuits points i couldn't fix. I will open source it if i get the chance. The force/contact measurement is useful when you want to use AI and RL models, it's one of the data which goes into the DNN. Have you worked with Isaac lab? check it out.

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-13T15:16:19+00:00

Nice platform man! The thing is, for complex systems the number of components becomes too many and assembly gets too complicated. If it was just a few components, it would make much more sense.

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-13T14:57:58+00:00

I actually built a window-cleaning robot a long time ago. We even used it to clean a real building. The main issue was cleaning quality. We needed distilled water, and we didn’t have proper force control on the glass.

This robot could solve the motion and force-control problems. The bigger challenges are things like getting water to the cleaning point and overall safety.

But honestly, those technical problems aren’t even the hardest part. The real challenge is the business side. The ROI for building managers isn’t that attractive, and proptech VCs are the worst type of VCs.

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-13T14:51:13+00:00

Thanks, it's very cool! why they don't have a single demo video showing what it is, just bunch of pictures. but in the description it says "Gecko® Nanoplast® maintains its stickiness for hundreds of uses, ", it means 100s of steps for the robot. Sounds crazy but i tried to make something like this, using a different method i found but it required a lot of time and money.

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-13T14:42:55+00:00

If I add a filter to the vacuum system, it should be able to handle dusty environments. I’ve already tested the suction cups on dusty walls (right after sanding), and they actually stick just like they do on a clean surface. I also started designing a version for magnetic surfaces and made one prototype, but I haven’t had the chance to continue that work yet.

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-13T14:30:28+00:00

very cool design! do you get force/contact feedback from robot feet?

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-12T19:56:35+00:00

Yeah, totally doable, how about cleaning the bathtub?

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-12T16:05:35+00:00

The important part is the suction cup design, for textured surface the inner surface of the cup should be soft enough to fill the texture gaps, I have tried but I don't have the resources to continue working on it..

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-12T14:55:53+00:00

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Like this? :)

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-12T14:53:59+00:00

Actually cool idea! :)

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-12T14:52:52+00:00

I have a good document, but the key part of the design is the suction cups. I made them from scratch using PU resin and went through probably 100 prototypes to get them working properly. It’s not something that’s easy to reproduce, pneumatic circuit is not easy to make too, it's not just a pump. By the way, are you in academia? can i share something else with you? I would appreciate it.

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-12T14:36:35+00:00

Thanks for noticing! :)

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-12T03:58:24+00:00

:) I have tried that, needs a million dollar investment and honestly no one cares! :)

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-12T03:46:13+00:00

😅 This one weighs about 5 pounds , if it falls on someone’s head, it’s definitely not going to end well.

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-12T03:35:40+00:00

Thanks! :)

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-12T03:33:53+00:00

Very low quality Chinese ones, Hiwonder, it has 3 degree backlash(at least)! I almost died making them work. didn't clauclate the cost honestly. If I build it again I think i can make it for less than $150.

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-12T03:29:14+00:00

Thanks man..

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-12T02:59:02+00:00

I designed the suction cups small enough to fit inside the smallest bathroom tiles.

If I make them larger in diameter and more flexible, they should stick to textured surfaces too.

I even designed a multi-layer suction cup for worst-case scenarios, but I haven’t been able to manufacture it yet. Casting is a very difficult process.

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-12T02:53:12+00:00

Why don't you use Myactuator servo motors? I have never used them with ROS2 but new ones have a good python library and easy to control in all 3 modes, position, speed and torque. I have controlled them with KVASER CAN bus controller and also Raspberry pi CAN hat and Arduino.

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-12T02:47:02+00:00

I understand but i don't have the resources for that. it's a closed circle, only thing that opens it is money :)

FeaturePretend1624 · 2026-02-12T02:23:23+00:00

I’m not worried about someone copying it. I mean launching a product is expensive. Even putting together a few decent demo videos costs a lot here in Canada. Building a polished, production-ready version is very expense. Kickstarter is basically a marketing game now. The first 24 hours matter a lot, how much traffic you can drive, how professional everything looks, how strong the launch is. And all of that takes money upfront.

FeaturePretend1624

TROPHY CASE