Quote Originally Posted by Invader View Post
If you also check out the main questions I ask in the original post, it reflects that I'm looking for information that other people can offer me.
Sorry, I didn't really read your original post.
So, here's my answers to your questions
(Note: while I'm interested in these sorts of things, I have no actual experience with robotics)

Quote Originally Posted by Invader View Post
I want to pose a series of questions, and for the example we'll be using a theoretical strider.
Spoiler for Strider:
That thing is inherently unstable, It's centre of gravity is way off the ground
Ideally, you want something a lot shorter if you want it to have any sort of stability
Also, the length of the legs will be a huge problem, as the stresses imposed to the middle of the segments would be huge
You;d either need far thicker legs, or far shorter legs

Coupled with that. 3 legs are no good for stable momentum
take a look at nature. 2 legs or 4 legs

With 2 legs, the subject is constantly "falling forward" while in motion
each leg contact with the ground stabilises the fall, body momentum carries through and it begins to "fall forward" again.

This design is perfect for fast acceleration, changing direction quickly and general agility
however, top speed is not as fast as 4 legs can offer

With 4 legs, it gets a little more complicated, as there is different dynamics depending on speed
walking is very stable. There's no falling forward, as there is always 3 legs in ground contact for stability

Running however is entirely different (but I'll leave that for someone who knows more about horses....)

Rest of this assumes 4 legs, as it's the most stable at slow speeds
and you're limited in the number of counter balances you can employ to maintain stability

Quote Originally Posted by Invader View Post
How will we program this?
With a lot of trial and error....

The robot would need to understand it's own dimensions
simple facts like the length of each leg segment, and what would happen to the position of the foot if a joint higher up the leg was hinged.
You could do this dynamically using gyroscopes in each segment, but that's complicated and prone to go wrong, and may well take too long
it's probably safer to just pre-program in information about each segment's position relative to the others for all combinations of joint movement

Once the central CPU can determine where all the segments are, you can program in the basic act of walking
Left hind, left front, right hind, right front

Quote Originally Posted by Invader View Post
-Are we going to be using multiple processors for individual components of the strider that speak to each other, or can one processor run the entire thing?
You'd probably have a variety of sensors and simple detection circuits dotted around the joints and contact points of the limbs, with one central processing unit analysing and controlling the overall movement.

You may use multiple CPU's, each dedicated to a specific task
One to control joint movement
One to monitor overall stability
One to sense and interpret upcoming terrain
and possibly one to store and retrieve info on terrain encounters for future reference (see machine learning in next question)

Quote Originally Posted by Invader View Post
-What language are we using to do this (I know next to nothing about programming, and am willing to learn)?
Christ, not a clue
basic sensors and monitors will just be simple circuit logic
but the main CPU....
I think it's dependant on what you want the robot to do
Simplistic, non-learning navigation and movement could be done in a general purpose language

But learning how to overcome new terrain, and improving itself?
you may need a logic language like Prolog

You'd probably end up using a mixture of different languages and programming approaches

blimey, don't think I've ever spent this long on a post
I'll do the rest later