Stewart Platform Walker Gains Feeling In Legs From Resistors

Per Hackaday, Stewy is a hexapod walker with a Stewart platform—a six-axis actuated plate—serving as its head, connected to servos that also drive its legs. The robot had a challenge: it couldn't feel its feet on uneven surfaces, limiting its mobility. The maker's solution was refreshingly simple: measure the voltage drop across a resistor placed in series with each servo motor, then calculate the torque using Ohm's law. Since motors draw more current the harder they work, monitoring that current through the microcontroller gave surprisingly accurate force feedback—all without expensive strain gauges or complex modifications.

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