🦿 M5 Machines That Seem Alive

A film studio wants mechanical creatures that walk, count and pump without any computer. Only clever linkages allowed.

Engineers, Advanced. Engineer Stamp: Linkage Legend.

Lessons

  1. The Klann walker: No wheels, just legs. How does a spinning crank make a leg step?
  2. The Geneva counter: Film projectors and watches move in tiny jumps. Here is the trick.
  3. Linkage path lab: Change one link length and the whole walk changes. How?
  4. The oil pump jack: These “nodding donkeys” pump oil all day. Why the big weight on the end?
  5. Design Day: The step-climbing walker: The film’s robot must walk up the castle steps in the big scene.
  6. Showcase: Walker World Championships: Timed 50 cm course with the step in the middle. Slow-motion replays of every climb.

Design challenge

Build a walking machine that climbs a one-beam-high step and keeps going.

Engineering ideas

Standards: MS-ETS1-4, UK D&T KS3 mechanisms