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Image  of

HEXBUG Scarab

An energetic, agressive Micro Robotic Creature.

What would a super-fast and aggressive HEXBUG look like? That is the challenge we set out to answer with this product design. Instead of focusing on programming and complex sensors, this creature relies solely on its physical attributes to move around its environment. Our first challenge was to design the legs so they would move so fast that all you could see was a blur. When we finished the leg design, we were left with 16 gears and one motor that would make the legs move back and forth 1,200 times per minute. Mission accomplished. Now that we had Scarab going fast, we needed to make it seem alive by producing random movement, having it make unexpected turns and generally not going perfectly straight. This was done by changing the length of the legs so that they were all different, which created some chaos in the drive. Now Scarab had super-fast legs and looked cool walking. The third challenge was to make the bug turn when it ran into an object. Without sensors or two motors to make it turn, this stumped us for a while, until we made a prototype that let the legs kick things in front of it. Now when Scarab encounters an object, it looks like it jumps back and then travels away in a different direction. At this point we knew we were almost done. Another cool feature that we wanted to incorporate from the HEXBUG Nano, was to make Scarab be able to get back up if up-side-down. I'll let you figure out how we did that, I'm sure you will see it if you look close. The result? A truly aggressive, frenetic mechanical bug that looks completely alive, and a little bit mad. Here are some of the key steps and supporting images that document the development of the HEXBUG Scarab. Enjoy!