Vorpal The Hexapod

The Vorpal Combat Hexapod is a low cost, easy to build hexapod that includes a Bluetooth gamepad. All the structural parts are 3D printed, allowing you to modify the design easily, reprint parts when needed, and save money (if you have a 3D printer) by only purchasing the electronic parts.

How it Works

You have several options for building the Vorpal Combat Hexapod:

Buy it completely built and ready to use
Buy all the parts, including the structural parts, and assemble yourself
Buy just the electronics, and you 3D print the free STL files for the structural parts, then assemble yourself

The first option is the most convenient (and the most expensive, although the Vorpal Combat Hexapod is still the least expensive Hexapod on the market).

The second and third options are a lot more educational and fun, and will allow you to explore making your own enhancements. If you have a 3D printer, the third option is the most economical of all, because you can print all the parts you need for only about $10 worth of filament.

See [How To Buy] for information on where to order parts or fully built hexapods.

See [Vorpal Combat Hexapod Building Instructions] for the details of building this project.

What can it do?

This robot is made for educational fun through friendly competition and there are endless ways it can be used by both the hobbyist and educator.

The Vorpal Combat Hexapod has these features:

12 degrees of freedom using all-metal gear mini servos.
Bluetooth wireless control using the custom Vorpal Button Gamepad
Arduino open source hardware used on both the gamepad and hexapod
The gamepad has many preprogrammed functions for walking, dancing, and fighting style competitions.
A unique feature allows gamepad functions to be recorded and replayed. For example, record a dancing session, then rewind and replay it all from the gamepad!
The gamepad exposes the internal Arduino Nano's USB port, allowing you to tether the gamepad to your computer and control the hexapod using your own code. Scratch programming is coming soon using this tether method, which will work from both Mac and PC platforms.