Carpentopod Robotic Table Walks to You!

What do you get when you cross a walking robot with a wooden table – and perhaps throw in a bit of steampunk – while you’re at it? If you're Giliam de Carpentier, the answer is his bamboo Carpentopod walker.

The origin of the Carpentopod (named by combining the Latin and Greek words carpentum (carriage) and pod (feet), which just so happens to sound like De Carpentier) harkens back to an optimized walking algorithm that De Carpentier wrote for fun back in 2008. As explained in the project writeup, it is not the same as a Jansen mechanism, though the multi-leg implementation and development process might appear similar at first glance.

Fast-forward about 15 years and he had taken an interest in making physical things, so it only made sense to turn these designs into a reality. And what better thing for a smoothly walking robotics platform than a remote-controlled table?

To make his beautiful drinks and snacks transporter, De Carpentier cut a dozen linkage-legs using a CNC router out of laminated bamboo. This material is both strong and natural, making it a great material for his robotic-furniture fusion design.

The 12 legs produce a smooth table-walking action. It is driven and turned like a tank using two 24VDC brushless motors and crankshafts. An Arduino Nano and Bluetooth module are used for control, with a custom wireless Wii Nunchuk employed as the user interface.

As seen in the quick demo video, it’s a beautiful example of how different skills and pursuits built up over many years can come together to make something awesome! For another ‘walker implementation, you can also check out my ClearCrawler Jansen implementation from several years ago.