YouTubers Hacksmith Industries claim to have built the world’s biggest hexapod rideable robot called Megahex, according to a video posted by its makers recently.

Initially, the project was supposed to take three months. But it ended up lasting a year and a half and saw many failures, breakdowns, and rewrites. The team behind the YouTube channel even made three videos before scrapping them all and going with the final version. 

It all started when one of the YouTubers on the team came across a Princess Auto excavator (a powerful towable excavator) which was capable of orienting itself using its bucket to stand up and manoeuvre.

The YouTuber asked himself: what would stop more legs from lifting a heavier body? That’s when he decided it was possible to build a six-legged version of the princess auto excavator to produce a spider-like rideable robot. 

The first month of the project went exactly to plan. The team partnered with Princess Auto, which provided six excavators and an in-store spending budget.

The initial idea was for a rectangle that had attached to it six legs that could each produce the exact same motion. The only difference would be what time that motion happens.

However, that simply did not work leading the team to choose a hexagonal frame. Changing to this type of frame brought on so many complexities.

The joints and all the angles had to be super precise and now the motion of each leg had to be different. Things were getting complicated.

Matters got even worse when the YouTubers got to the building stage. None of the legs were the length they were supposed to be and they could not find their rightful place on the hexagonal frame. 

What was initially a two-day welding job resulted in an ordeal that lasted more than a week. By the time they were ready to attach the legs to the frame, the YouTubers were already starting to feel a little defeated. 

Final project starts to emerge

What else could go wrong with their ambitious project? However, the process of attaching the legs went pretty smoothly and the YouTubers could now begin to see what the final project would be.

It was a huge robot and the team was getting increasingly more excited. Could their hardships be behind them? Was the rest of the project going to go to plan?

The fact is that the YouTubers had many more obstacles to overcome each outlined in their video but in the end, they managed to build a gigantic robot with forward motion which is no small feat. The final robot does not function for long but it is still a testament to what engineers can pull off if they work tirelessly and with dedication.

If this story has piqued your curiosity, watch the video to get the entire scoop on what it truly takes to build a hexapod rideable robot. We promise you won’t be disappointed.