Lizandro Duran's LAD Dog Is a Low-Cost 3D-Printable Arduino Quadruped Robot

Maker Lizandro Duran has published a design for a low-cost 3D-printable quadrupedal robot, dubbed the LAD Dog, driven by an Arduino Nano microcontroller and a remote control app for Android smartphones and tablets.

"This is the LAD Dog, a cool little dog robot that you can control with an Arduino Nano board and your mobile phone," Duran explains of the project, which he has released under a permissive license for others to build and remix. "Most importantly, you're not going to have to spend $500 on a single actuator to built this little robot. This is literally one of the most inexpensive and easy to build quadruped robots."

The robot is designed to use low-cost off-the-shelf components, like cheap hobby servo motors, alongside a 3D-printed framework and moving parts. Standard AA batteries are used as the power source, again as a means of keeping the cost down and making the design as accessible as possible.

The robot's companion app, at the time of writing only available for Android devices, offers simple remote control: The quadrupedal robot can be instructed to move forwards, backwards, sidestep left and right, and to turn clockwise or anti-clockwise. There's little in the way of on-board smarts, though nothing to stop someone adding in sensors for autonomous operation.

Duran has published three videos on the project, covering assembly, calibration, and connection to the Arduino Nano board and HC-05 Bluetooth module that provides smartphone connectivity; the 3D print files and source code are available under a permissive Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license on Cults 3D.