56 hours to go, $2,500 away from upgrade!
Hello again everyone!
First of all, we owe everyone a huge thank you - your response has been tremendous through this entire Kickstarter campaign. We hit our goal, and we're only $2,500 away from our Performance Upgrade - woohoo! We wanted to take a minute and show you the progress we've made over the past month while the Kickstarter was up, and ask you to help spread the word (or perhaps up your pledge!) to help us achieve our $95,000 stretch goal.
(As a quick aside - if you can't see the pictures in this email, we encourage you to check out the updates page. We had problems embedding images during our last update, for some reason, and the pictures this time around are incredibly cool!)
We've spent the past month taking refresher welding classes at Artisan's Asylum and getting our technique down, and then welding each of the links together. MIG welding all of the plates together to form the shapes of the links went very quickly, but we hit a snag when we started to weld on the hollow cylinders required to hold the shafts and pins necessary to tie the legs together. Our initial welding and jigging techniques resulted in misalignment of the cylinders, and we had to cut them out and try again. We now have a controlled 12 step process for carefully TIG welding the cylinders to the link bodies, and we've started slowly welding the final pieces on to each link. Check our progress out so far:
Because not all of the cylinders are carefully welded in yet, we haven't been able to assemble the whole leg in a functional manner, though we've finished all the pieces we need to weld in. Even so, we decided to assemble what we had by clamping the yaw joint to a column and supporting the weight of the leg with a mobile gantry crane. We were... pretty floored when we saw the size of this thing in comparison to James:
For an even more drastic comparison, check out Gimpy next to the full size prototype leg, with James and Mycroft in the shot. This is what we mean when we say Gimpy was a "half-scale" prototype leg...
So, unfortunately, we don't have the full-size prototype leg up and working as we hoped we would by the end of the Kickstarter campaign, but we do have pretty much all of the pieces we need to get it there. From here forward it's just a lot of careful TIG welding of our cylindrical inserts, and then assembly onto the column. We'll start testing with Gimpy's power unit (which should allow us to control the legs at half of full pressure), and then see if we can get the engine hooked up to our hydraulic pump to drive the leg at full pressure and flow.
Once again, thanks for all your support! We really appreciate everyone's contributions thus far, and can't wait to meet you all in person. We would be incredibly grateful if you could help us reach our $95,000 performance upgrade, so we can make this robot capable of taking on any terrain we can throw at it!
Thanks everyone,
The Project Hexapod Team
1,571
Backers
$97,817
pledged of $65,000 goal
0
seconds to go
Funding period
Aug 3, 2012 -
Sep 2, 2012
(30 days)
- First created · 1 backed
- Has not connected Facebook
- Website: projecthexapod.com
Pledge $5 or more
135 backers
The Project Hexapod team will take a field trip to the White Mountains, scale them, and shout your name from the top.
Estimated delivery: Sep 2012Pledge $10 or more
264 backers
A snazzy "My Other Car Has 6 Legs" bumper sticker, the listing of your name on our web site as a supporter, and the shouting of your name from a mountaintop.
Estimated delivery: Oct 2012Pledge $20 or more
324 backers
A wristband proclaiming "FRIEND OF ROBOTS - DO NOT TERMINATE" that clearly indicates your loyalties in the coming robot apocalypse. Oh, and the sticker, name on our website, and shout-out from the top of a mountain.
Estimated delivery: Oct 2012Pledge $40 or more
488 backers
Our stylish Robot Evolution supporter T-shirt, plus the loyalty band, the sticker, your name on our website, and the mountain shout.
Estimated delivery: Oct 2012Pledge $75 or more
64 backers
You get two shirts! Whether they're both of one type, or one of each type, they are both yours. You also get the loyalty band, the sticker, your name on our website, and the mountain shout.
Estimated delivery: Oct 2012Pledge $100 or more
65 backers
A signed photo of the Project Hexapod team standing in front of Stompy giving cheesy thumbs-ups, a T-shirt, the protective wristband, a sticker, your name on our website, and the shout-out.
Estimated delivery: Apr 2013Pledge $200 or more
14 backers
10 characters of your choosing (and our approval) are welded onto the chassis of Stompy, and we'll send you a picture. On top of that, you get the signed picture, T-shirt, band, sticker, name on our website, and shouting.
Estimated delivery: Apr 2013Pledge $200 or more
6 backers
WILL IT STOMP?! You get to provide us with an inanimate, non-volatile object of your choice (and our approval) and Stompy will crush it mercilessly. We will then post a video of the crushing on YouTube and set it to techno or some such. You also get the cheesy picture, T-shirt, loyalty wristband, sticker, name on our website, and shouting-from-the-mountaintop.
Estimated delivery: Apr 2013Pledge $300 or more
43 backers
You gave us $300? Whoa. You, dear friend, get to ride Stompy on one of our demo days. We suggest dressing up in your finest clothes, because this is going to be a grand celebration! We'll also get you the thumbs-up picture, the T-shirt, the sticker, the wristband, your name on our website, and the shouting.
Estimated delivery: May 2013Pledge $400 or more
1 backer
You're not satisfied with just a ride - you want both a ride, and the chance to either stomp something or write your name on the chassis in metal. Sounds good! At this level, you'll get both a ride and your choice of the $200 levels.
Estimated delivery: Apr 2013Pledge $1,000 or more
16 backers
Rides? Who needs rides. You certainly don't! You get to DRIVE Stompy on one of our demo days. We'll even throw in a training class beforehand! We strongly suggest a mad scientist look for the occasion - a good lab coat is almost required. You'll also get, of course, the cheesy photo, the Evolution T-shirt, the wristband, the sticker, your name on our website, and the shouting. Oh, the shouting.
Estimated delivery: May 2013Pledge $1,500 or more
2 backers
You're awesome. You know that? You're so awesome we're going to give you a chunk of our robot - no, you keep it. You earned it. At this level, we'll send you a signed thigh side plate that you can mount to your wall. We'll even give you a ride. We'll throw in the signed photo (which you could even hang by the thigh piece for context!), the T-shirt, the wristband, the sticker, your name on our website, and, of course, a shout-out. Except you know what? Your name will be shouted louder. That's right.
Estimated delivery: May 2013Pledge $2,500 or more
1 backer
Hang on... give us a moment... OK, we've collected ourselves. Congratulations! You've reached our sponsor level! You get an A4-sized logo on the robot's chassis - it'll be like NASCAR, only two orders of magnitude slower! We'll also throw in a ride, the picture, the shirt, the wristband, and the sticker. You'll be listed on our website as a sponsor instead of a supporter, and we'll be screaming your name from that mountain.
Estimated delivery: May 2013Pledge $5,000 or more
3 backers Limited (3 of 6 left)
You know those Adopt-A-Highway programs? Well, you've just adopted a leg. That's right. Not only do you get your sponsor logo on the thigh of the leg in question, but you get to design a round logo that the foot will stomp into the ground on every step. We'll give you a ride, the picture, the shirt, the wristband, and the sticker. You'll be listed on our website as a sponsor, and everyone will be screaming your name in unison with a wild look in their eyes.
Estimated delivery: May 2013Pledge $10,000 or more
0 backers Limited (5 of 5 left)
Uh. Hang on. Give us a minute. You know what? For this amount of money, we'll fly you to Boston (lower 48 states only!), put you up in a hotel room, and take you out on field trips to run Stompy through local rubble piles, scrap yards, and the like. We'll even throw in a free ice cream from J.P. Lick's and a trip to Bartley's Burgers. We'll give you the picture, the T-shirt, the wristband, and the sticker. You'll be listed as a sponsor on our website, and we'll be shouting your name 'till we're hoarse. Please contact us directly at info@projecthexapod.com to arrange the details of this level.
Estimated delivery: Jun 2013
Comments
Creator Daniel Ervik on September 3, 2012
Awesome job so far with the project :D
Looking forward to seeing the finished stompy :D
Creator Michael Askew on August 31, 2012
Thanks for the pictures guys. Don't forget to put videos on your YouTube channel; there's almost no update so mundane that I wouldn't watch a 60 second video about it.
Creator Project Hexapod on August 31, 2012
Peter - yep! We'll be buying an excess of all of our swag, and offering it for sale once the Kickstarter is over. Junior will be safe, and kitty will be sad.
Creator Peter X. Garza on August 31, 2012
Great Job!! Awesome news!! Just wondering if once this is completed and the robot apocalypse hasn't happened yet, would you sell us additonal wristbands? You know, some family members are worth saving and maybe one for my dog? (sorry kitty, just Junior)
Creator Jason Rossitto on August 31, 2012
Just don't let it walk off with the column. We need that!
Creator River Kelley on August 31, 2012
Giant robots for the win! Great work!
Creator Scott Janousek on August 31, 2012
CRAZY! :-]
Creator Boris Kraft on August 31, 2012
Hope you reach the next level! If every backer gives another 2$ you are there ;-)
Creator Phil Titan Napolitano (deleted) on August 31, 2012
Excellent!