So I have been using *LEGO®* for a rather long time and over the years, I started going towards small constructions. While doing this, I began building rather small robots (*Mobile Frames* for those who know), between ~8cm and ~11cm or approximately 8 to 11 studs.

Those mechs I build are articulated and I want them to have as many articulations as possible (*e.g.* a leg should have a hip, a knee and an ankle, not only a hip).   

The problem is the sturdiness of the whole construction. I have tried multiple options and the articulations are often either too weak to stay in position correctly or too fragile to support other parts, leading to structure vulnerability and eventually *destruction* of either portions of or the whole robot.

My question is the following : do you know any **compact yet sturdy articulation building technique** or any small articulation part ?   

Bonus : if you can provide a method allowing me to build more or less *on* the articulation (not sure if that's very clear).

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*EDIT* : For posing reasons, the articulation needs to have some 'friction' to keep a specific angle.

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Should there be any problem with the question (wrong formulation, bad English, need for clarification), please don't hesitate to point it out.