TDA: Chevaline (Q50499)

This is a derivative of DogBot for my English final project about the Diamond Age, modified for a bit faster construction with more crazy glue because I was on a deadline ( see http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:10789 ). Here's the paragraph about it in the artistic statement I wrote for the project: The most in depth of the projects is the recreation of the Chevaline, an autonomous passenger vehicle designed to mimic a horse. The recreation is scaled down, but given enough development time could fully replicate the gait and functionality of the Chevaline on a smaller scale. The Chevaline is described as being able to move at various speeds without stumbling across varied terrain. A modern day analogue of this is the Big Dog robot, which is able to hold its balance on virtually any surface and is being employed by the military for these characteristics. As the Big Dog took several years of development, I went for a less robust walk cycle, using less powerful servo motors with no feedback. My recreation is also fully parametric and can be easily modified by an end user to suit his or her purposes with regards to scale and durability. However, despite the levels of customisation and optimisation built into my design, it turns out I cut one disastrous corner: the servos I bought while costing thirty-two dollars less than the alternative had one quarter the torque; two of the eight have already broken and all eight have shown their impotence in the face of the weight of a microcontroller and four AA batteries, despite plastic being one of the lightest and strongest materials the frame could have been constructed out of, with the exception of diamond as the Chevaline in The Diamond Age was.