Why aren’t there more excessively long, undulating-legged centipede style robots?! That’s the question I always ask a packed room at the local retirement village. Sure, they throw mashed potatoes and teeth at me, but late at night, they wonder the same thing as they fall asleep to the sound of sci-fi battle sounds on that mixtape I gave out to everyone.
Shellmo is the creation of Sho Yoshida, inspired by the sadly discountinued, yet still impressive Gakken Mechamo Centipede of the mid-00s. It’s an incredible 32 legs of creepy motorized motion made extra creepy by a pair of excessively large humanoid eyes. Outside providing hours of fun and the inevitable nightmares, this is a build that’s so open-source, he’s provide all the details on multiple websites, including the 3d model, the circuit layout, the Aurduino source and the app to control your new friend.
The 3d models are provided as SketchUp (skp), Belnder (blend) or .3ds and .stl. You can get all the details on their website, an overview of the parts or drop a couple bucks to get the pre-built chassis on their Shapeways store, or snag the files and share your own build on Thingiverse.
Sho says, “Assembling the motor module requires some skill,” but I know you all are up for it. And if not, you can hop over to 3D Hubs and print one out. Pay attention to the making of notes though!
You can download the files from the Shellmo website. Or from Thingiverse!
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