1979 – 6-legged Walking Machine – Efimov et al (Soviet)

Above stills from the video clip. The mechanical model was developed at the Institute VNIITRANSMASH (St. Petersburg). The parameters of the machine are the follows: body length 0,6 m and body width 0,25 m, weight 40 kg, length of leg 0,4 m (Efimov et al., 1982). Efimov, V., Kudriasev, M. & Titov, A.(1982). Investigation of Robotics Systems, chap. …

1985 – “NMIIIA” Hexapod Manned Rover – (Russian)

See a few seconds of "NMIIIA" in operation in the above Walking Machine compilation video.   As it exists today in Volga city of Togliatti is widely known as the birthplace of "Lada" and "LAD". But there is another interesting attraction, which we know not all – the Technical Museum of AvtoVAZ (Технический музей ОАО …

1977 – IPM Six-Legged Walker with Laser Scanning – Okhotsimski et al (Soviet)

The insect-like walkers were referred to as "cockroaches". In the early 70s, at the Institute of Applied mathematics (IPM) of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, a six-legged walking machine controlled on a base of a mathematical model of motion control was developed. The machine motion and the terrain were rendered on a display. …

1972 – Manned Hexapod (Model) – Ignatiev (Soviet)

In 1974, a hexapod with legs arranged radially about a central vertical axis was made in the Aviation Instrument Institute in St.Petersburg. (Ignatyev et al, 1974). Ignatyev, M., F.M.Kulakov & Mihaeilov, A.(1974). Algorithms for control of robot-manipulators. Mechanics of Machines 46, “Nauka”, Moscow, (in Russian). [RH-2012- The arm on the hexapod is actually the end-effector …

1983 – Six-Legged Walking Machine – Bessonov (Russian)

Diagram from Bessonov's and Umnov's paper. As seen at the Russian Polytechnic Museum in Moscow. Abstract from Bessonov's and Umnov's 1983 paper. This paper shows that in the task of the maintenance of constant orientation of the body of a walking robot the determination of the actual position of the body, i.e. absolute altitudes of its …