What is it?

Vorpal The Hexapod is about the coolest robot project there is. You get all the electronics, cables, servo motors from our kit. You 3D print the parts (6" cube build area minimum, easy print with no supports) and build Vorpal and its Bluetooth gamepad, then the fun really starts!

Over 10,000 have been built worldwide since this project first launched on Kickstarter.

Features include:

• Control Vorpal from the included Gamepad, able to execute 60 different motions and in Deluxe models can record and play back gamepad actions.
• Fully supports the MIT drag-and-drop programming system to create your own custom motions, read sensors on the robot.
• Twelve metal gear servos, Genuine Tower Pro MG90s (not clones or counterfeits like you find in most places)
• Robot battery life is 60 to 80 minutes on a charge. Gamepad battery life is 4 to 6 hours depending on type of 9v battery.
• Build time of 1.5 to 2 hours, no soldering required (does not include 3d print time)
• All 3D models are open source: modify them and add your own hacks and extensions to your heart's content! All software is also open source. Tons of fun activities are posted on the Vorpal Robotics Website.

What You Get

• All electronics, servo motors, Bluetooth modules, and electrical wiring
• No soldering required, everything is plug and play
• Bluetooth modules are pre-configured to auto-pair on boot, no weird "AT" commands to mess around with Here are the items in the box:

What you don't get

• 3D printed plastic parts. You need to print them yourself. If you don't have a 3d printer, check local libraries, schools, or maker spaces which often have low cost (or even no cost) printers for the public to use.
• Robot Batteries. The robot requires two 18650 sized lithium ion batteries and associated smart charger. These are surprisingly affordable, we recommend EBL 3000 mAh "white top" batteries. (Don't get the yellow top, although they work you won't get as much run time).
• Gamepad batteries. The gamepad runs on any kind of 9v battery. We recommend rechargeable but disposable also work fine.

Why did you make it?

I coached and taught robotics at the high school level for ten years. In my final year teaching, I was the advisor for a student doing an independent study on walking robots. We designed and built a simple 3D printed hexapod robot, the predecessor to Vorpal. Even though it was crude compared to the current project, everyone who saw it was enthralled. I knew this type of robot would be perfect to motivate students and adults alike to learn about robotics and technology. I worked to commercialize it and launched it on Kickstarter, where it was named a "Project We Love" by Kickstarter Staff (less than 3% of projects get that badge) and funded at over 200% of goal!

What makes it special?

Vorpal was built for gaming and includes three games: Capture the Flag, Joust, and Fidget Spinner Challenge. Dozens of activities are documented on our website. This is not a project you build, run for half an hour, then put on a shelf. We have dozens of activities posted on our wiki and we're developing new attachments and new activities all the time.

But it's not just for fun, this robot was designed for education. We have a full NGSS cross referenced curriculum in development, and Vorpal the Hexapod supports the MIT Scratch drag-and-drop programming language for educational use. You can even create new leg motions using Scratch and upload them to the SD card in the gamepad for use during activities and games!

We made this project open source and published the Arduino source code on github, the STL files on Thingiverse, the 3D source models on OnShape, all public and available for your hacking pleasure!