Inventor James Bruton Creates Open-Source Robot Dog That Anyone Can Make at Home

Inventor James Bruton has spent years creating machines that stop people in their tracks with their sheer size and complexity, but his most recent effort takes a very different approach. He’s built a robot dog that anyone can make in their own workshop with simple equipment and off-the-shelf parts.

The robot’s movement is driven entirely by six servo motors, four of which are situated at the knees to help lift and lower each leg, while the other two are hidden away inside the body to operate the legs in a certain pattern. Essentially, each pair of opposite legs swings back and forth in tandem, resulting in a highly smooth stride that does not require a motor on each leg.

You can print the body and legs on a basic 3D printer and then just attach some standard radio control servos, which are readily accessible. James also offers the concept in two sizes: one with large servos for a full-sized dog, and another with tiny 9-gram servos for a more compact version. Everything works thanks to an Arduino Uno microcontroller, which is powered by a simple battery pack connected to a basic circuit board.

You can grab all of the necessary files for free from James’ GitHub page, which includes the 3D model, assembly instructions, and the basic programming required to get the dog moving. Once you’ve followed the instructions and got the dog up and running, you can program in some pre-set walking patterns directly from the control panel or even connect a computer to your robot to control it in real time, as it’s also easy to imagine adding remote control later on, or even some sensors to allow the dog to do more cool things.

James created this robot to allow a larger group of people to participate in creating robots. His previous dog projects were a little more complicated and had a pretty big price tag, but this one’s been designed to be a lot more accessible while still being just as cool to watch, and once you’ve got the basic version up and running, you can always tinker with the code or add your own sensors to make it even more interesting.
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