# Hexapod robot

Everything about my six-legged walking robot, from the first FPGA-driven version in 2009 to the
current Teensy robot with its firmware-in-the-loop Unity simulation. Each generation has its own folder,
named after the year it started, with its firmware, simulation, hardware, documents and photos together.

**Working on the robot now? Go to [`2026-current/`](2026-current/).** Everything else is history.

## Timeline

| Folder | When | Hardware | What it did |
|---|---|---|---|
| [`original-frame/`](original-frame/) | 2009–2023 | own leg and body design (DXF/DWG) | the frame every version up to 2023 was built on (legs 2009, body and bracket 2011) |
| [`2009-fpga/`](2009-fpga/) | 2009–2011 | FPGA | the first version. The code is lost; only photos and videos are left |
| [`2011-firefly-mega-ssc32/`](2011-firefly-mega-ssc32/) | 2011–2012 | Arduino Mega 2560 + Lynxmotion SSC-32 | "FireFly": walking sequences with a Wii Nunchuk, later IR remote, ultrasonic radar head and GPS |
| [`2012-simulation/`](2012-simulation/) | 2012–2014 | PC | a Visual Studio leg-IK visualiser (2012) and a Processing 3D simulator (2014) |
| [`2014-ik-core-task-queue/`](2014-ik-core-task-queue/) | ≤ Feb 2014 | Arduino | a rewrite of the IK core around a task queue, without servo output yet |
| [`2016-ssc32-processing-port/`](2016-ssc32-processing-port/) | ~2016–2018 | Arduino + SSC-32 | the Processing simulator's classes ported to Arduino, driving the SSC-32 again |
| [`2018-unity-sim/`](2018-unity-sim/) | 2018–2023 | PC + SSC-32, later the Teensy | Unity computes the walking and drives the robot: first the SSC-32 over serial, from 2019 through the remote |
| [`2019-teensy-nrf24/`](2019-teensy-nrf24/) | 2019–2022 | Teensy 3.6 on the robot (replaces the SSC-32), Teensy remote with Nextion screen, nRF24L01 | servo passthrough: Unity → remote over USB → radio → robot |
| [`2026-current/`](2026-current/) | 2026– | Teensy 3.6 robot, Teensy 4.1 remote, Fusion 360 designed parts | IK, gait, body pose and IMU stabilisation on the robot; the unchanged firmware also runs inside Unity |

## Repository notes

- Photos, videos, PDFs, Office files, CAD and other binaries are stored with **Git LFS** (see `.gitattributes`).
  A normal clone downloads them; set `GIT_LFS_SKIP_SMUDGE=1` to clone only the code.
- Files are stored exactly as they were (no line-ending conversion), so old code is byte-for-byte the original.
- This repo was put together in October 2026 from the Gitea repos `Hexapod_2027`, `Hexapod`, `Hexapod-App`,
  `Hexapod-processing`, `Hexapod_Simulation_Unity`, `remote` and `Hexapod-Archief`, the NAS folder
  `Projecten\Electronics\Hexapod`, the Arduino sketchbook and the Fusion 360 exports. The history of every repo
  except `Hexapod-Archief` is kept (its own history only held the same photos and videos again). Old code
  versions that only existed as rar files or backup folders are dated commits.