Why Bakiwi?

Walking robots are fantastic and building things yourself changes your life forever. But robots on legs are quite different from wheeled robots, so for beginners, it is not quite clear how to start here. That's why we brought Bakiwi into life, to enable everybody to build a tiny walking robot on their own. Furthermore, it gives you the possibility to invent your own and unique robot friend.

For whom?

Bakiwi is perfectly suited for robotics and electronics beginners, making it the best choice for your initial hardware project. You are a software developer searching for your first hardware project? You have a relative who likes to do handicrafts. Would you like to introduce your children to electronics? We had workshops with moms and dads, grandpas and aunts, and kids from age 7 on.

How did we do it?

We created an entire walking robot assembly kit, with a beautiful and beginner-friendly manual that guides you through the whole process of soldering, assembly, and tuning of your robot. There is also a manual for sewing your individual robot coats. The schematics and source code is open source, so you can also learn about electronics and programming. With the electronic design available you can forever repair your Bakiwi. Or you can study the source code, add your custom modification, or write an entirely new firmware.

What do you get?

The kit contains all electronic and mechanical components. After you completed building your robot with a basic pair of legs (see the main picture), it is your task to experiment with building unique legs and teach the robot to walk with them.

For the legs, you can choose from a lot of materials, not included but found in any household or hobby workshop. We saw Bakiwi legs made from screws, wire, pens, clothespins, gluesticks, LEGO-parts, carrots, etc. There is no restriction, be creative, find new materials or recycle old stuff.

How to play?

If you've got your Bakiwi's legs designed, you can make it walking with only four knobs. You can easily change the step width, walking speed, and direction. See this video for a detailed explanation.

Please note: Bakiwi is not programmed classically. The challenge of building a Bakiwi lies in the design of the legs and the body. The Bakiwi source code can be downloaded from our GitHub repository and changed as desired. Programmers are welcome to modify and experiment with the firmware. However, the Bakiwi microcontroller is already preprogrammed when it comes to you. If programming is your thing there is an AVR flashing device available for purchase, too.

Prerequisites

We recommend basic soldering skills and materials to build your Bakiwi, as all components have to be soldered together first. If you are not yet familiar with soldering, please check out a Youtube tutorial first or build the robot together with your friends and family and let them show you how to solder. We recommend having a look into the manual before checking all materials and tools.

How to design the legs?

If you're looking for inspiration for building your Bakiwi's body and legs, look at the different solutions that our friends have found and built. But do not just copy! Give your Bakiwi an individual and unique style. If you like, you can send us a photo of your finished robot, so we can add it to our gallery.

Please understand that the colors or shape of the electronic parts in this kit may vary from the pictures above due to their specific availability. The servo-motors we ship are quality-made Original TowerPro metal gear servos. This makes the kits a little more expensive but is recommended due to the mechanical loads of walking robots. Broken (plastic) gears are not funny. We don't want you to experience that :)

More Videos

Bakiwi having Fun, Bakiwi with Fur