Biped robot builders in Japan become interested in more legs

 Until recently, robots with more than 2 legs have been less popular compared to biped robots among hobbyists in Japan.

 There was just one 4-legged robot kit, the G-DOG , which HIP JAPAN started selling in July 2008.

 But nowadays, Japanese robot enthusiasts who have been working on custom-built biped robots are starting to become more and more  interested in making multi-legged robots. This is a noteworthy trend.

 It kind of started off with Shimaken -who is a well-known humanoid robot builder - when he joined the `Wonderful Robot Carnival - Petit `  with his original hexapod `Shiguma` in November of 2008. Bishii  of  (Asakusa-giken) and Tanaka  of  (Dainihon-giken) declared in December 2009 that they have begun to make multi-legged robots loaded with toy guns and sensors for future competitions. They used the image monitor such as `Remo`.

 This year,  ROBOSPOT held an information exchange meeting about multi-legged robot on Jan 23rd. A number of robot builders joined the meeting and exchanged ideas. Some people made presentations about their new robots. One of them was me. I presented the videos of my new robots with 5 legs, BT-L5 and BT-L15 .

 After the meeting, ROBOSPOT announced it's plan to start a new competition for multi-legged robots this coming spring. Mr. Morinaga , who is known as the `Father of ROBO-ONE` also started to make multi-legged robots, one being the Metallic Bio with 7 legs.

 Igaa , another famous biped robot builder know for `Saaga` and `Soga`, also made a new multi-legged robot with wheels for `the 1st Kanto Robot War` and published his video below. His wheeled complex multi-legged robot can move with high speed.

 K who is famous for a big Gundum robot at S.H.R.B. , is also making a multi-legged robot with 4 legs .

 So why is this trend happening now?

 My thoughts are this.

 Humanoid robot competition ROBO-ONE announced a new regulation for the 17th ROBO-ONE Tournament  which is for robots under 3 kg that is being held on March 21st. The main change in the rules are those that govern the length of the arms and legs of the robot.

 Without going into details, the main point that I want to make is that the new rules are defeating the challenging spirit of the robot builders. 

 ROBO-ONE has been changing the regulation time to time, making it harder and harder  for participants to build the robots. The purpose of the stricter regulations is not to give an advantage to robots with a  certain type of structure. To a certain point, that has worked. Giving new obstacles (rules) to overcome has motivated the builders to come up with better ideas and techniques. But now after many many rule changes, it seems that what the robot builders can do is becoming too limited and they are hampering the builders from trying innovative ideas.

 The multi-legged robots competition which ROBOSPOT is initiating will basically have no regulations besides that it won't allow biped robots nor wheeled robots to participate. Therefore, builders can come up with any kind of idea, and indeed many new types of multi-legged robots are currently being built.

 Multi-legged robots are more stable to walk compared with biped robots and even low powered servo motors can move the body. Not to brag, but it is not so hard for biped robot builders to make multi-legged robots. Biped robot builders also have a lot of idle controllers, servos, arms and parts at home. It is going to be really interesting to see what kinds of new multi-legged robots will be created in the coming months.

 Stay tuned!!  (By IKETOMU )

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