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4-Bar Walking Linkage Optimizer 


​​​​The below interactive simulator allows you to quickly check how changing the linkage's bar lengths affect the path it draws as the crank is rotated.

Picture
Picture
A 4-Bar Walking Linkage with a Crank and Rocker. NOTE: This leg's accelerations at the top corners of its foot-path could cause high-speed vibration problems, especially at scale

Here is the a video of the simulator in action:

Jeep2003's awesome mechanical ostrich uses a similar 4-bar linkage: 

And here's a great LEGO implementation by Hiro Labo:
​​
Below is the interactive simulator. It allows you to simulate between 1 and 4 legs to make it easier to gauge the amount of foot contact at each corner of the robot.   The sim is started by clicking the green flag.  You can also run it on MIT's site where you can modify the Scratch code.

After changing a bar's length, click somewhere other than a slider bar and then press the space bar to see the new linkage, and use your keyboard's left/right arrows to rotate the crank.


​​A description of the algorithms, and how we used them to simulate linkages, is here.
​
​When building a simulated linkage in LEGO, remember to use beams with one more hole than the bar's length.  For example, a bar of length 8 requires a LEGO beam with 9 holes, because when determining the length of LEGO beams, the first hole is always counted as zero.
​
  • Home
  • Wanna Build This?
  • Walker ABC's
  • Build Instructions
    • TrotBot Builds >
      • TrotBot Linkage Plans
      • TrotBot's Legs Simplified
      • Quadruped TrotBot
      • Hexapod TrotBot
      • TrotBot
      • TrotBot, Ver 3
      • Mindstorms TrotBot, Ver 3
      • Wooden TrotBots by Automata Korea Design
      • 3D Printed TrotBot by Scott Anderson
      • Mindstorms TrotBot, Ver 2
      • Mindstorms TrotBot
      • Large-Scale TrotBot
    • Strider Builds >
      • Strider Linkage Plans
      • Strider Ver 3's Legs
      • Strider Ver 3's Frame
      • Mindstorms Strider Ver 3 Mod
      • Strider
      • Strider's Legs Simplified (ver 2's)
      • RC Strider
    • Mechanical Spider >
      • Klann Mechanical Spider - Climbing Mod
      • Klann's Spider, EV3 Long Legs
      • Klann High-Step Mod
      • Klann's Spider, Ver 2
      • Mindstorms Klann
      • Klann's Spider, Ver 1
      • Klann's Linkage Plans
    • Strandbeest
    • Linkage Warm Ups >
      • Lever Paradox
      • LEGO Biters
      • LEGO Punchers (4 bar linkage warm-up)
      • LEGO Hopping Robot
    • Simplified Walkers by OECU's Mechatronics Dept
  • Customize
    • Strider Linkage Optimizer
    • Klann Linkage Optimizer
    • Strandbeest Optimizer for LEGO
    • TrotBot Optimizer
    • 4 Bar Linkage Optimizer
    • 4 Bar Walking Linkage
  • Linkage Simulation
    • Python Linkage Simulator
    • Scratch Linkage Simulator
  • Blog