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M5Stack QSpider

A quadruped walking spider robot built on an M5Stack, driven by nine SG90 toy servos through a custom PCA9685 servo module board.

  • Quadruped
  • Open source
  • arduino
  • 3D printable

Suggested by Robotheca, created by @tomorrow56 (opens in a new tab), from github.com/tomorrow56/M5Stack_QSpider (opens in a new tab). Pinned to commit 07778c2 (opens in a new tab).

Fork on GitHub (opens in a new tab)Download the files at this commit (.zip)
Hardware license
MIT (opens in a new tab)
Software license
MIT (opens in a new tab)
Commercial use
Allowed

Photo and 3D model

M5Stack QSpider, photo from its repository
Photo:@tomorrow56 (opens in a new tab)MITsource file (opens in a new tab)

3D preview converted from github.com/tomorrow56/M5Stack_QSpider at 07778c2, under MIT. View the original files from GitHub (6.4 MB) (opens in a new tab)

What it can do

Written by Robotheca from the project's documents.

  • Quadruped walking robot with nine servos, moving forward, backward, shifting left and right, and spinning.
  • Controlled through a web browser over a WiFi access point, or wirelessly with an ESP-NOW gamepad.
  • Face animation with eye blink and mouth open shown on the M5Stack LCD.
  • Calibration mode that moves all servos to center, entered by powering on while charging.

Bill of materials

This repository has no parts list Robotheca can read yet.

Build guide

The creator's steps, each with its instructions.

  1. 13D print the leg parts (print four sets, one per leg)
  2. 2Produce or order the M5Stack servo driver module PCB
  3. 3Assemble the servo driver module with PCA9685 components
  4. 4Mount the nine SG90 servos and assemble the legs and main body
  5. 5Wire the battery holder, step-up/step-down regulator and servo driver to the M5S
  6. 6Flash the Arduino web interface or ESP-NOW sketch to the M5Stack

The guide appears here as you scroll.

Guide by @tomorrow56 (README.md), under MIT. The English translation is by Robotheca, shared under the same license.

More guides

Wiring and electronics

Notes written by Robotheca from the project's documents.

Main parts

  • M5Stack Basic (ESP32) as the main controller.
  • Nine SG-90 toy servos for the legs and head tilt.
  • Custom M5Stack servo driver module based on the PCA9685 PWM controller (I2C address 0x72).
  • Four AA battery holder powering the servos.
  • Pololu S9V11F5 step-up/step-down regulator generating 5V for the M5Stack from the AA batteries.
  • NES/Famicom gamepad used as a controller on the ESP-NOW side.

Connections

  • The servo driver module plugs onto the M5Stack, and the PCA9685 is reached over I2C.
  • PCA9685 channels 0-4 and 6-9 drive the nine servos: front right, front left, tilt, rear right, and rear left knee and swing joints.
  • Servo power comes from the AA battery holder, while the M5Stack gets 5V from the S9V11F5 regulator.
  • Battery and power leads use red/black wiring leads and 2-pin connector housings.