set pins FR Hip () FL Hip () FR Leg () FL Leg() BR Hip () BL Hip () BR Leg () BL Leg ()

Activity Description

In this activity, students will use the Quarky Quadruped kit to make their four-legged robot perform a series of cool dance and movement actions. This helps them learn how to control servo motors and sequence movements step by step. In the end, the robot returns to its home position, ready for the next show!

Let’s Code

Follow the steps

1. Open the PictoBlox application from the Start Menu.
2. Select the inviting realm of Blocks as your coding environment.
3. Connect “Quarky” to your computer using a USB cable. Then, click the Board button in the toolbar and select board as Quarky.
   
4. Next, select the appropriate Serial port if the Quarky is connected via USB or the Bluetooth Port if you want to connect Quarky via Bluetooth and press Connect.
5. Click on the Add Extension button and add the Quarky Quadruped extension.
6. Drag and drop the “when green flag clicked” block from the Events palette.
7. To set up the quadruped, you can drag and drop pins for each leg and hip into the initialisation block using set pins FR Hip () FL Hip () FR Leg () FL Leg() BR Hip () BL Hip () BR Leg () BL Leg () blocks. This block sets which pins on the Quarky controller board control each servo motor for the front right (FR), front left (FL), back right (BR), and back left (BL) hips and legs. Drag this block and set each PIN as shown.
   
8. Add the “home” block right after setting pins.. This will bring the robot to its initial position before starting the dance.
9. Add a wait block after home. This gives the robot time to move to home position before doing the next action.
   
10. Add the “do action” block from the Robotics palette, select dance1, set times to 1, and speed to Medium.
11. Add another “wait (0.5) seconds” block to allow time for the action to complete.
    
12.  Repeat steps 10 and 11 seven more times and choose a different predefined action.
13. Finally, to return the quadruped to its starting position, you can drag and drop the home position block.

Final Code

Output

Click the green flag and watch the robot perform the complete dance sequence step by step, returning to its home position at the end.

Activity Description

In this activity, you use a visual block-based coding environment to program a quadruped robot. The code shows how to set servo motor pins for each leg and define movement patterns such as forward, backward, lateral left, and lateral right. You also learn to control the robot’s speed and timing using variables and wait blocks. The robot starts in a neutral “home” position and performs motion sequences repeatedly or based on your inputs. This activity helps you understand basic robotics, motion control, and sequential logic in a hands-on, engaging way.

Activity 1: Quadruped Movements

Let’s Code

Follow the steps

1. Open the PictoBlox application from the Start Menu.
2. Select the inviting realm of Blocks as your coding environment.
3. Connect “Quarky” to your computer using a USB cable. Then, click the Board button in the toolbar and select board as Quarky.
   
4. Next, select the appropriate Serial port if the Quarky is connected via USB or the Bluetooth Port if you want to connect Quarky via Bluetooth and press Connect.
5. Click on the Add Extension button and add the Quarky Quadruped extension.
6. Add when flag clicked block from the Event Palette.
7. To set up the quadruped, you can drag and drop pins for each leg and hip into the initialisation block using set pins FR Hip () FL Hip () FR Leg () FL Leg() BR Hip () BL Hip () BR Leg () BL Leg () blocks. This block sets which pins on the Quarky controller board control each servo motor for the front right (FR), front left (FL), back right (BR), and back left (BL) hips and legs. Drag this block and set each PIN as shown.
   
8. Add the “home” block right after setting pins.. This will bring the robot to its initial position.
9. Add a wait block after home. This gives the robot time to move to the home position before doing the next action.
   
10. Add the do forward motion 1 time at Medium speed block. This block instructs the quadruped robot on how to move, how many times, and at what speed.
    For example:
    
    This makes the robot take one step forward at medium speed.
11. Add the “home” block right after setting pins.. This will bring the robot to its initial position. Click on the green flag to run the motion sequence.
    

Activity 2: Controlling Speed using Variables

Introduction to Variable

A variable is a named storage that holds a value which can change during the program. In programming, a variable is a named space in memory used to store data that can change during the execution of a program. It acts like a container that holds information—such as numbers, text, or other data types—which you can create, modify, and use throughout your code. Variables make programs flexible and dynamic by allowing data to be reused and updated.
Example:

Think of a school bag with your favourite toy inside. You can change the toy anytime — today it’s a car, tomorrow it’s a doll.

Let’s Code

1. Click on the Variables category in the blocks palette.
2. Create a New Variable: Click on the “Make a Variable” button.
3. Enter Variable Name: In the New Variable window, type your variable name in the box.
   (e.g., type Speed as shown in the picture)
4. Click the OK button to create your variable.
   
5. Add when flag clicked block from the Event Palette.
6. To set up the quadruped, you can drag and drop pins for each leg and hip into the initialisation block using set pins FR Hip () FL Hip () FR Leg () FL Leg() BR Hip () BL Hip () BR Leg () BL Leg () blocks. This block sets which pins on the Quarky controller board control each servo motor for the front right (FR), front left (FL), back right (BR), and back left (BL) hips and legs. Drag this block and set each PIN as shown.
7. Add the “home” block right after setting pins.. This will bring the robot to its initial position.
8. Set the variable Speed to the value 5000 (this controls how fast the robot moves).
   
9. Add a wait block after home. This gives the robot time to move to the home position before doing the next action.
10. Add the do (forward) motion (1) times at () speed block to move forward for 1 motion cycle at the speed set by the variable Speed.
11. Add the “home” block right after setting pins.. This will bring the robot to its initial position.

Output

Activity 3: Quadruped Predefined Motions

1. Click on the Events palette and choose the ‘when flag clicked’ block. This block starts the program when the green flag is clicked.
2. Set the servo motion pins using the ‘set pins’ block from the Quarky Quadruped palette. Assign the pins exactly as shown in the image for all 8 legs and hips.
3. Add the ‘home’ block from the Quarky Quadruped palette. This brings the robot to a stable starting position.
4. Add a ‘forever’ block from the Control palette. This repeats the movement continuously.
5. Inside the ‘forever’ block, add the block: do (forward) motion (1) times at (Medium) speed This makes the robot take one forward step at medium speed.
6. Finally, add a ‘wait (0.2 seconds)’ block from the Control palette. This gives a short pause before the next step is repeated.
   
7. Similarly, repeat Steps 5 and 6 for the movement of the Robot in the different directions.

Output

Activity Description

In this activity, you will control your quadruped robot using the arrow keys on your keyboard. The robot’s hip and leg pins are set up first, then it goes to the home position. Inside a forever loop, the robot checks which arrow key is pressed and moves in that direction. You can make the robot walk forward, backward, or move sideways left or right. You can also change the motion direction, number of times, and speed to see how your robot moves differently!

Let’s Code

Follow the steps

1. Open the PictoBlox application from the Start Menu.
2. Select the inviting realm of Blocks as your coding environment.
3. Connect “Quarky” to your computer using a USB cable. Then, click the Board button in the toolbar and Select Board as Quarky.
   
4. Next, select the appropriate Serial port if the Quarky is connected via USB or the Bluetooth Port if you want to connect Quarky via Bluetooth and press Connect.
5. Click on the Add Extension button and add the Quarky Quadruped extension.
6. Add when flag clicked block from the Event Palette. This block helps you to start the script.
7. To set up the quadruped, you can drag and drop pins for each leg and hip into the initialisation block using set pins FR Hip () FL Hip () FR Leg () FL Leg() BR Hip () BL Hip () BR Leg () BL Leg () blocks. This block sets which pins on the Quarky controller board control each servo motor for the front right (FR), front left (FL), back right (BR), and back left (BL) hips and legs. Drag this block and set each PIN as shown.  FR Hip: 4, FL Hip: 1, FR Leg: 8, FL Leg: 5, BR Hip: 3, BL Hip: 2, BR Leg: 7, BL Leg: 6.
   
8. Add the home block to move the robot to its starting position.
9. Add the if block. Check if the up arrow key is pressed. If true, do forward motion 1 time at medium speed.
   
10. Press and hold the up arrow key on the keyboard and click the green flag in PictoBlox to make the quadruped move one step forward.
11. Can you think of a block that would help the quadruped move continuously without needing to click the green flag each time?
    
    Alert:  Forever block is missing. This block helps us to keep checking which key is pressed.
12. Use the forever block to keep checking which key is pressed.
13. Inside the forever loop, add an if block. Check if the up arrow key is pressed. If true, do forward motion 1 time at medium speed.
    

    Output

    

14. Add another if block. Check if the down arrow key is pressed. If true, do backward motion 1 time at medium speed.
15. Add Controls for Left Arrow. Add another if block. Check if the left arrow key is pressed. If true, do lateral left motion 1 time at medium speed.
16. Add Controls for Right Arrow. Add another if block. Check if the right arrow key is pressed. If true, do lateral right Motion 1 time at medium speed.
    

Run and Test

1. Click the green flag and press the arrow keys to move the robot forward, backward, or sideways.
2. Try changing the motion direction, number of times, or speed to explore different movements!

Final Output

Introduction

The project demonstrates how to make the crawling motion with Quadruped using individual servo control.

Logic

For this project, we are using the set servos () () () () () () () () at () speed block that sets the servo motors of the quadruped to the specified angles at the specified speed.

There are four positions of the robot we are going to make to create the crawling motion:

1. Position 1
   
   
   
2. Position 2
   
3. Position 3
    
   
4. Position 4
   
   

Code

Output

Introduction

A sign detector Quadruped robot is a robot that can recognize and interpret certain signs or signals, such as hand gestures or verbal commands, given by a human. The robot uses sensors, cameras, and machine learning algorithms to detect and understand the sign, and then performs a corresponding action based on the signal detected.

These robots are often used in manufacturing, healthcare, and customer service industries to assist with tasks that require human-like interaction and decision-making.

Code

Logic

1. Then, it sets up the quadruped robot’s camera to look for hand signs and tells it how to recognize different signs.
2. Next, the code starts a loop where the robot looks for hand signs. If it sees a sign, it says the name of the sign out loud.
3. Finally, if the robot sees certain signs (like ‘Go’, ‘Turn Left’, ‘Turn Right’, or ‘U Turn’), it moves in a certain direction (forward, backward, left, or backward) based on the sign it sees.
4. So, this code helps a robot understand hand signs and move in response to them!

Output

Introduction

In this example, you will understand how the oscillator concept is used to create smooth motions for the Quadruped robot. The oscillator is the primary component for making the smooth movements of Quarky Quadruped like walking or turning.

How does the Oscillator work?

The purpose of the oscillator in the code is to generate a sinusoidal waveform that can be used to control the motion of a servo motor. The parameters of the oscillator are defined by the offset, amplitude, period, and phase difference.

1. Offset: The offset is the starting angle of the servo motor (oscillator). It is the angle at which the servo motor starts moving.
2. Amplitude: The amplitude of the servo motor (oscillator) is the maximum angle the servo motor can rotate.
3. Period: The period is the total time taken by the oscillator to complete one full cycle.
4. Phase Difference: The phase difference is the angular displacement of the oscillator from its starting point.

In mathematical terms, the servo angle is calculated using the following formula:

Angle = Offset + Amplitude * sin(Time / Timeperiod + Phasediff)

Single Servo Oscillation

Let’s apply the concept of oscillation to the Quadruped. We want the front right hip servo to oscillate like this:

As you can observe, the following are the oscillator parameters that can be used to get the desired motion:

1. Offset: 45 degrees
2. Amplitude: 45 degrees
3. Time period: 1000
4. Phase Difference: 0 degrees

Look at the parameters carefully and see if you can understand how it works.

Now to execute the following on Quarky, we will the set () amplitude () offset () period () phase difference () which sets the oscillator parameters for the selected servo motor.

Next, we will use oscillate for cycles () block to execute the oscillator for the complete cycle for the specified cycle times.

Create the following script:

Click on the green flag to test the script:

As you can observe the servo motor start from 45 degrees and do 1 oscillation. You can observe the servo angle here:

Single Servo Oscillation with Phase Difference

Let’s see how to use the Phase Difference to delay the move.

Create the following script:

Click on the green flag to test the script:

As you can observe the servo motor start from 90 degrees and do 1 oscillation. You can observe the servo angle here:

Hope you have understood the oscillator. Let’s change the difficulty level and try the oscillator on all servo motors.

All Servo Oscillator

Create the script to make the left-right motion:

Let’s decode it. Let us play the motion while keeping the Quadruped in the air.

As you can observe the following movements: All the hip joints are starting from the 45-degree angles and then oscillate. The script of the following is here:

Run the green flag and test the code.

Try Other Oscillator Motions

1. Code 1:
2. Code 2:
   
   

Try to change the parameters and create your actions.