Markus Opitz stories that he has black horse ants on his terrace, which he finds fascinating to observe as they go about their work. As one thing of an indication of respect, he made a 3D-printed ant walker that strikes about on its six legs utilizing 12 MG90 servos.

The mannequin ant employs an ESP32-S3 XIAO board for management. This options not solely an ESP32-S3 processing and wi-fi unit, but in addition an OV2640 digital camera for visible suggestions. The upshot is that it features as form of almost-ready-made FPV robotic {hardware} setup.

For a consumer interface, a cellphone or pill will be carried out, logging on to the robotic’s internet server over Wi-Fi for motion instructions and FPV navigation. Alternatively, the write-up suggests utilizing RemoteXY because the phone-side answer, which seems to be like a useful app for straightforward distant management.

The gadget makes use of a 9V battery as its energy provide, with a swap and buck converter used to tone issues right down to a 5V stage. A PCA9685 servo board is used to… drive the servos, which has room for as much as 16 of those little motors.

This configuration leaves 4 servo slots free, which might be used for a gripper, head and/or tail motion, or no matter else you may dream up. It could even be doable so as to add a sensor or two to permit it to behave autonomously, although the writeup notes that the best way to go ahead from right here is as much as you!