INSTRUCT'O: Your Instructables Robot Tool Box and Website Dashboard:

A very Happy 20th Birthday to everybody at Instructables:

A personal thanks to all of the staff, readers, makers, content creators, and of course our friendly Instructables robot for making Instructables what it is. It's been a wonderful 20 years, so here's to 20 more years, and beyond. x

Hi dear reader. We write our Instructables because we have made a project and wish to share how it was made. We make our projects generally using the tools we have at our disposal. And because our tools, whatever they may be, are important to us, we generally need good tool storage. So for this very special Instructable, I have taken the opportunity to celebrate this special 20th Birthday occasion by composing an Instructable to make your very own Instructables robot tool box like the one I have built for this occasion.

The Project:

To make a portable tool box in the shape of the Instructables Robot I'm calling 'Instruct'o (I'm probably not the first to use this name). It has draws and storage compartments to keep our tools safe and organised along with ease of retrieval in mind.

Just like the robot, the tool box will be on wheels to make moving it around easier.

The robot arms are adjustable and have clamps on the end to act as helping hands to hold things like work lights.

The head is able to rotate and has a small storage area for additional tools. It also has a Bluetooth speaker fitted inside to play some motivational tunes from a tablet (see below) while you work, or just to play those party tunes for special Birthday occasions (don't worry Instructables crew, I've got you covered with the party tunes).

The head also has a small removable Android tablet fitted to the face area to play your work playlists. It also has an animated 'Instruct'o facial movements just for fun, but if you poke it in the eye (ouch) a simple custom user interface dashboard opens up with direct access to the different Instructables categories on the website so you can follow instructions while you are making, and also has useful apps like a notepad app for jotting down those important thoughts and reminders etc.

The Inspiration:

Quite simply, the Instructables 20th Birthday celebration.

The Making:

1. To make to tool box using MDF sheet so it's strong and sturdy yet easy to move about.
2. Make enough storage draws and compartments while keeping the design close to the robot shape.
3. To include all of the hand tools used on a regular basis when making things.
4. Use strong draw runners to take the weight of the tools.
5. Lay the tools out in such a way for ease of retrieval.
6. To add strong supports for the robot legs and wheels to make it easy to move around.
7. A third leg and wheel is added to support the tool box.
8. Keeping the Instructables colour scheme of yellow and white with hints of black and red.
9. Additional feature of a tablet PC with a custom Instructables dashboard to quickly access the site's categories and a 'Make' link to document your own Instructables, along with build tool apps like a notepad, unit converter and a calculator etc.

An Instructables inspired tool box, to help make our projects, and to share on Instructables.

Let's do it...

Here is the list of what I used.

Tools:

1. Pencil
2. Metal ruler
3. Metal angle ruler
4. Tape measure
5. Jigsaw
6. Handheld circular saw
7. Hobby knife
8. Drill/driver with drill and screwdriver bits
9. Nail gun
10. Wood clamps

Materials:

1. 15mm x 15mm stick timber, 4 x 900mm lengths
2. Round timber post
3. 4 x 1220mm (L), 610mm (W), 9mm (Thickness) MDF sheets
4. 2 x 1220mm (L), 610mm (W), 12mm (Thickness) MDF sheets
5. Small pieces of hardboard
6. Wood glue
7. 10 x A3 5mm Foamcore sheet for draw dividers
8. Black wood primer paint
9. Red spray paint
10. Black permanent marker pen
11. Double sided tape
12. 'Gran Via' matt finish yellow paint, (pretty close match to the robot logo colour)
13. Small foam paint roller and paint brush
14. Android tablet
15. 5 x yellow draw knobs
16. Phone/tablet holder
17. Yellow draw handles
18. 115mm Lazy Susan bearing
19. 2 x drop-down Hinges
20. 2 x 38mm x 68mm hinges
21. 3 x Caster wheels
22. 5 x pairs of draw runners, 3 x 400mm and 2 x 350mm

List of the Following Steps:

1. Step 1: The Design:
2. Step 2: Starting the Frame:
3. Step 3: Attaching the Legs:
4. Step 4: The Draws:
5. Step 5: The Arms:
6. Step 6: The Head:
7. Step 7: Final Painting:
8. Step 8: Draw Dressings:
9. Step 9: Foamcore Draw Dividers & Layout:
10. Step 10: Final Building Jobs:
11. Step 11: The Android Tablet Dashboard & Face Animations:
12. Step 12: Final Thoughts of What Instructables Means to Me:

Build Time:

1. Four days including painting.

The first this that needed to be considered were the legs because as you are probably aware, the Instructables robot has two legs on wheels and I wanted to keep that look. So I decided to go with three legs and keep the feature of the wheels to make the tool box easier to move around.

Draws are the main storage feature, using Foamcore for the dividers. I decided to make Foamcore trays that can be placed and lifted out of the draws, and should I need to change the arrangement of the dividers, Foamcore is relatively inexpensive and I could always break out old dividers and cut/hot glue in new ones. Also the white Foamcore makes it easy to spot if a tool is missing.

The tablet is for both fun and practical purposes. To give 'Instruct'o' a personality, I wanted to do some simple animations of it's eyes blinking and moving around, and also make a simple yet useful dashboard to give quick access to Instructables categories and the all important 'Make' section to document my builds on the go along with the tablets camera to take build images on the fly. The dashboard would also be useful for following other Instructable members if I wanted to follow and make my own version of their builds, and would also have useful apps like a notepad, calculator and unit converter.

And of course the entire build had to be based around our friend, the unnamed Instructables robot, because that is what this project is all about. A little artistic license needed to be taken in regards to the overall shape and design, but still keeping it as close as possible to the original Instructables robot mascot (I hope I did it justice). I drew up some designs on a paint program making it squarer to maximize storage space and ended up with something that I am pretty pleased with, and it makes me laugh a little every time I walk past it.

So on to the build...

In this step, we will start to build the tool box frame. The rest of it will be done throughout the build.

1. First thing, we need to mark out and cut the panels needed for the tool box. You will find a full list of the panels, quantity and their measurements in the images above. Measure and mark out the panels, writing the name of each piece on them for easy identification.
2. Now cut all of the panels out, clean the edges up with a sanding block and some fine grit sandpaper (120 or 180 grit is good), then put them all to one side. You will now need the back, base and side panels, your wood glue and the nail gun (or hammer and nails if you don't have a nail gun).
3. Gather the base and one of the side panels. Now glue along one edge of the base and attach to the bottom of the side panels making sure the base is flush with the front of the side panel. We are leaving a 12mm gap at the back to mount the back panel.
4. With the nail gun, nail the two panels together ensuring the edges are flush, then wipe away any excess glue. Using a second pair of hands or using the top panel to prop up the side panel will help with this stage to help prop up the panels while attaching them.
5. Now turn the two fitted panels over and attach the other side panel the same way as above.
6. Now with the back panel, apply glue the two side edges, then along the back edge of the base panel, and fit the back panel in place then nail in.

Next we will fit the legs.

Top Tips:

A good practice to use is to spread the wood glue out with a paint brush or your finger to insure the whole are to be glued, is covered. This helps to reduce the amount of glue seeping out the sides, and full coverage also makes the bond much stronger.

And when using a nail gun, take care not to put your hands anywhere near the direction of travel of the nails just in case they blow out the sides of the wood, or if the gun double fires sending the first nail flying, seeking out your tender flesh.

Before we start fitting draws, we need access to the base to fit the legs. Carrying heavy tools and having the ability to move around, the legs of the tool box need to be very secure. Here you will need the cylindrical timber (a round fence post for example), saw, drill/driver, wood screws, washers and wood glue.

1. Cut three equal 15cm lengths of the cylindrical timber and clean up where necessary with 180 grit sandpaper and sanding block, especially the two ends of each piece. (15cm may seem short, but with the 12cm caster wheels, they will be high enough to look the part, but not so high where the total loaded weight of the tool box would become unstable).
2. Mark out the leg placements onto the bottom side of the base panel of the tool box frame, then drill three holes for each leg through the base panel about 2 to 3cm in from the outer leg placement marking. When marking the placement for the front two legs, keep in mind where you are going to screw in the draw runners later on. You want the the holes for the leg attachment to inwards from where the draw runners are going to be fitted (see the screw location diagram, above).
3. Apply wood glue to one end of all three legs fully spreading the glue to cover the whole area, stand them up and place the tool box frame on top, aligning the legs within the markings you made earlier.
4. Grab your wood screws, place a large washer over each screw, then screw them into the legs though the pre-drilled holes. Because of the washers, the screw heads will sit a little proud of the surface. This is why the draw runners need to be placed to the side of where the screws are.
5. Although screwed in, leave the wood glue to set for 24 hours before moving the frame about too much. We will fit the caster wheels towards the end of the build. During this drying time, we can make the draws, which is the next step.

The tool draws are mounted on two draw runners fitted to the bottom of the draw, not the sides. You could side mount the draw runners which would give you more draw depth, but as the majority of the tools I will be storing in the box are not particularly thick of bulky, I opted to loose some draw depth and gain draw width instead. Bring together your cut out draw panels for the bottom draw, the upper base panel, stick timber, wood glue, nail gun, drill/driver with a small drill bit and screwdriver bit, one pair of draw runners and a pair of wood clamps if you have some.

1. Lay the draw base onto your work surface and place all of the side panels on top make sure they will all fit. Trim or sand off any excess wood if necessary.
2. Apply wood glue to the edge of one of the sides and attach it flush to the edge of the base. Turn it upside down and it into nail in place.
3. Continue fitting the rest of the side panels in the same way as above.
4. With the draw upside down, lay one of the draw runners on the base, line it up with the edge to ensure it is straight, then screw down. Do the same with the other runner.
5. Place the draw onto the base of the tool box frame, line it up so it is equally measured on each side and the front of the runners are flush with the front edge of the housing base. Then drill a pilot hole and screw down. Start with the first screw at the back on one runner, then the other runner. Then, making sure the draw is still straight making adjustments if necessary, slowly pull the draw out and carry on fitting the other screws.
6. Now glue and fit the two stick timber lengths to the housing in between the side panels and the draw. The stick timber should fit so they are just a little higher than the draws top edge (leaving about a 1mm gap) so the draw won't rub against the upper panel when fitted. At this point I spray painted the inside red before fitting anything else.
7. Test fit the upper draw base panel, then apply glue along the top of both stick timber lengths and along the two side edges of the upper base panel, then fit into place. Drive in a few nails through the side of the housing into the upper base.
8. Now follow the above stages 1 to 7 to make and fit the rest of the draws.
9. With all the draws fitted, we can now fit the draw fronts by gluing, clamping then screwing then in from the inside of the draw. If you don't have any wood clamps, simply remove the draws from the tool box, lay the draw front flat on your work surface, glue, then place the draw on top to screw down. Draw runners normally have little clips you can move to allow you to remove the draw without unscrewing the whole runner assembly. And just make sure that all of the draw fronts have a small gap between each draw so they don't rub on each other.
10. At this point, remove the draws and put to one side for now.

So we now have the robot body on legs, painted red inside, and all of the draws fitted and then removed for the next step... making and fitting the arms.

Top Tip:

I often get asked "Why use wood glue AND nails or screws as well?". Well, using nails immediately after gluing offers instant holding power preventing any joined wood from moving or slipping while the glue dries and cures. The nails also add extra strength where the joined pieces would be subjected to impacts or any kind of stress, important for things like a tool box.

And when deciding on the size of the draws and what's going in them, take into account the thickness of the Foamcore and the thickest tool along with the thickest part of that tool so they fit in the draw and don't obstruct the closing of it.

Instructable robot's arms look rounded in the logo images, so instead of trying to make two half cone shapes out of wood, I opted to make two half pyramid shape arms instead. For this we will need the cut out arm panels, wood glue, nail gun, locking nuts/washers/bolts, and the ratchet wood clamps for both clamping the wood for the arms, and to measure the placement for storage. For each arm we will need two standard metal washers and a split ring washer.

The ratchet wood clamps are press fit so there is enough friction to hold the clamps in place while holding something, yet still be able to remove them. These wood clamps normally have a small nodule at one end that acts as a stopper. Its this little nodule that will help keep the clamps in place inside the arms.

Just to note, before I started the arms, I spray painted some black primer on the outside of the body as these panels were cut from reclaimed wood which needed a little sanding. The black primer helped highlight any areas that needed a sanding, then I would apply more primer later on.

1. Gather the arm panels and spacers, then measure, mark and drill the holes in the body for the bolts to fit through.
2. Drill a hole in the center of each spacer, feed the bolts through the body (inside - outwards), then place the spacer onto the bolts. Screw the spacers in place.
3. For the arms, glue and nail the back and two sides together and then the small top arm panel.
4. This stage will depend on the thickness of the shaft of the ratchet wood clamps. Cut two small pieces of hardboard (a fraction thinner of the clamp shaft) and lay them onto the back panel with the clamp shaft in between.
5. Glue the two hardboard pieces onto the back arm panel still with the clamp shaft in between, Cut a larger piece of hardboard to cover the two other pieces and the shaft, glue, attach and clamp to the top of the two other hardboard pieces. When the glue is fully dry, slide the clamp in and out a few times. The first time will be stiff but will loosen up after a few times.
6. Do the same as the above stage for the front arm panel for the second clamp.
7. Now with the bottom arm panel, offer it up to the arm, mark where the clamps are, then cut out to small sections so the panel can fit around the clamps. Then glue and nail the bottom panel in place.
8. With the arms still on your work surface, place the front panels onto the arms then drill and screw together. We will fit the arms later after painting.

We are screwing the front arm panels on instead of gluing and nailing so we gain access to the inside of the arms in case we ever need access in the future.

Moving on to the head, we need the MDF head panels, wood glue, nail gun, hinges, support arms, magnetic latch, lazy Susan bearing, pencil and ruler, some screws, jigsaw and a drill/driver. The head is a little bit on the larger size, but this works well to store all of my soldering equipment. If you wanted it more in scale with the robot mascot, I'd drop the measurements to around 18cm to 20cm square.

1. Before building the head, we need to sort out the swiveling head motion. Using the head base panel, draw a cross corner to corner to locate the center. Place the lazy Susan bearing onto the panel so it sits dead center, then drill and screw the bearing to the panel.
2. Now turn the unattached side of the bearing so the fixing holes are not covering the attached bearing side, then mark and drill some pilot holes through the panel. Now fit a larger drill bit to the drill and re-drill the holes. The holes need to be large enough to fit a screw head through.
3. Measure and mark the center of the top body/tool box panel, place the bottom head panel/bearing on to the body making sure it's centered, turn the head panel so the bearing corners are not overlapping each other, then mark and drill pilot holes through the large drill holes we made in the head base panel. We are not screwing down the panel at this point.
4. Like the body frame and draws, glue and nail the front head panel and the two side panels to the base.
5. Attach the rear flap hinges to the rear flap and back panel. Now attach the support arms to the flap and the side panels.
6. Now we can place the head back onto the top of the body. Line up the fitting holes of the bearing with the pilot holes, and screw down. Check that the head rotates well and that no screws are restricting it's movement.
7. Glue and nail the top head panel to the head.
8. Now glue and nail the middle shelf to the inside of the head, measuring to make sure both side are equal height. Then add any dividers you wish to add using some leftover MDF.
9. Fit the magnetic latch to the inside middle edge of the top head panel, and the latch plate to the inside middle edge of the flap making sure it's aligned to the catch.

If you want to fit the tablet to the front of the head, follow the next stages. If you're not fitting a tablet, you can skip the following three stages and go to Step 7. You could either draw the robots face with marker pens or paint, or you could draw and print off a face on a PC and stick the face to the head. I played with the idea of adding a 'Larson Scanner' type light behind the tablet holder slot for a bit of a Cylon look, but Instruct'o is not an evil robot, it's a good guy.

1. Measure and draw a line on the face where the back of the tablet stand will be located.
2. Drill a couple of holes in one end, then run the jigsaw along the line a few times, test fitting the stand until you have a nice tight press fit.
3. Now we can apply some double sided foam tape to the bottom area of the tablet stand where the tablet will sit, then stick the tablet to it. Just make sure the bottom of the holder doesn't block any ports or anything on the tablet.

At this point, the hardware can be removed for painting as we now have the holes and tested the flap operation.

At this stage after a clean up of sawdust etc. I finished applying black primer to the outside of the body, head, arms and the draw front panels. I was then originally going to spray paint the yellow, but decided to brush/roller paint it instead. After the primer fully dried, I applied four coats of the 'Gran Via' matt finish yellow paint I got from my local hardware store. It looks a little brighter in the photos, but in real life the colour shade is very close to the shade of the Instructables robot mascot.

I then masked off around the back of the head and head storage flap, then spray painted the inside of the head and the inside of the back head panel red with four coats, starting with a light dust coat then three slightly thicker coats.

I used spray paint as I already had a supply of it, but you can just as easily brush paint the whole project if you prefer.

Before we start with the dividers, we will need a drill, the draw knobs and some buttons like what the Instructables robot has on it's chest. I had some spare push button switches I used, but you can use anything you like that looks the part. Eagle-eyed readers will know that the buttons on the mascot are grey, but the red button switches I already had do go with the colour scheme, so I left them as is.

1. Measure out three equal spots where you want to mount the buttons.
2. Drill out the holes and the insert the buttons.
3. Next, measure the centre point of the draws, drill a hole the size of the draw knob screws, insert the screw and attach the draw knobs.

With these little jobs out of the way, we can now sort out the tool storage.

I haven't given any measurements for this step simply because your tools sizes, choices, and layout will no doubt be different to mine... you do the layout design that works for you. If you haven't used Foamcore before and you're thinking this might be a bit flimsy for tool dividers, when all glued together it is actually pretty sturdy stuff and I use it a lot. And apart from being a lot lighter than wood, if you ever want to rearrange things, as I mentioned in 'Step 1: The Design', Foamcore is relatively inexpensive to buy to make new ones, and we could always break out old dividers and cut/hot glue in new ones.

You will need a metal edge ruler, tape measure, hobby knife like an X-acto knife with new blades, pencil, cutting board and a hot glue gun.

1. Put one of the draws onto your work surface and measure the inner dimensions, then mark it out onto a sheet of Foamcore.
2. Lay the Foamcore onto the cutting board, lay the metal ruler against one of the line markings, press down firmly onto the ruler making sure your fingers are not overhanging where you're going to cut, then slowly start the cut along the cut line. Don't try to make the cut in one go, instead make a gentil score cut first making sure the blade is against the metal ruler, then do the cut again another two or three times. Doing this will help keep the cut line straight and clean. Carry on until you have cut out the complete panel.
3. Measure, mark and cut out four Foamcore lengths for the sides. Hot glue along the bottom of one side panel and attach it to the Foamcore base. Carry on attaching the rest of the side panels, but this time gluing the bottom and side edges where the sides will meet.
4. Lay out your tools onto the cut out Foamcore panel to the way you want them. Make sure you leave a little gap for each tool so you can grab them easily when the dividers are in place. You can start cutting and inserting the dividers around the tools if you like, or you can draw pencil lines between each tool first, marking out where the dividers are going to be placed.
5. Measure, mark and cut out Foamcore strips for the dividers. Starting with the longest ones first, hot glue along the edges and attach them to the base (over the pencil markings if you made some). Keep going until all of the dividers are in place.
6. Now you can fit the Foamcore tray into the draw, then follow the above stages to do the rest of the draws.

Top tips:

When making your first cut onto the Foamcore, start with a light, slow 'score' cut. With a new blade, it is quite easy to start cutting along the metal ruler edge and then unexpectedly veer of and cut where you don't want to if you cut to hard and quickly. Plus the score cut will help guide the blade on the next cut. Slow and steady wins this race.

Also, when you start to notice that the cutting process becomes harder and the Foamcore starts to 'pill', stop cutting and change the blade. This will make for clean and straight cuts.

And take a little extra care when handling Foamcore. It's a fun and easy material to use, but it can cause paper cuts if you're not careful.

Time for the finishing touches for our new robo tool box helper.

1. Flip the body upside down and offer up one of the caster wheels to the base of a leg. Center the wheel, mark then drill the holes and screw down. Once all of the wheels are fitted, flip the body right side up again. Make sure to use nice thick screws so the wheels will be nice and secure. The wheels I purchased came as a set of four, two braked, two not braked. I put the two braked wheels on the front legs.
2. Moving over to the head, refit the rear flap panel then measure and fit the magnetic catch to the inside top of the head, and the latching plate to the flap.
3. For the ears, I used two 130mm M13 bolts and nuts, two caps from used detergent bottles (they were round and already red which was perfect), and some black electrical tape. Drill two holes on each side of the head, feed the bolts through the holes and thread/tighten the nuts. Drill a hole on each of the red caps, slightly smaller than the bolts, then with some pressure screw the caps onto the bolts. Finish off by wrapping the ends of the bolts with the electrical tape.
4. Place the head section on top of the body and screw down into place.
5. Now to fit the arms. Feed the bolts through the body, then place a plain washer on, then a split washer, and the second plain washer onto the bolt. Feed the arm onto the bolt, then attach the Nyloc locking nut tightening up to a point there the arm can still move, but with some force. Careful not to tighten it up too much for risk of damaging the wood. Finish by screwing the arm covers back on and inserting the wood clamps.
6. We can now refit the draws and fill them up if they are empty.
7. This stage is an optional one as we are pretty much finished. As the Instructables robot logo is a drawing with a black border then coloured in, I wanted to create a similar look. For this, I did the arm and leg stripes and went around all of the edges with a black permanent marker pen. I wasn't going for perfection here as I wanted to try and get the 'drawn' look. To make the stripes I used masking tape then coloured in the spaces, and for the edges I used a combination of using a ruler and using my finger as a guide while drawing the lines.
8. I also covered the tablet's bezel with yellow automotive vinyl tape so the black bezel didn't show.
9. And the final optional job... give this guy an 'Instructables.com' name plate on the back, because it would be rude not to.

And out tool box is pretty much ready to rock and roll. But it wouldn't be an Instructables robot without a face (and some very useful extras)... so that's next...

If you are following my tablet addition, this step will describe how I made mine. I am using an 8 inch Android tablet, using a draw/paint program to make the dashboard and face images, a website tool called Ezgif, and the Android launcher app called Total Launcher. The images above are all of the dashboard icons as well as the face GIFs I made that I used to this step so you can download and use them yourself, or make your very own.

Making the Dashboard:

1. First thing is to find the resolution specs for the tablet screen, as an example my tablet has a 1280 wide by 800 tall. Open up your paint program, start a new project, and set the canvas size to the tablet screen resolution size.
2. Now draw out your background how you want, maybe choosing a main background colour and add border lines like I did. Then add some buttons using the drawing tools like 'Squares', 'Rounded Squares', 'Circles' etc., making them a usable size and adding the amount of buttons you need and can comfortably fit on the screen.
3. As you can see in the images, I put little icons within the buttons. For the robot ones, I toot a screen shot from the 'Why Publish' website page, opened a second instance of the draw/paint program, opened the screen shot and selected each robot, copied it, then went over to the other instance of the draw program and pasted the robot image in to the button, resizing it where needed. I did also edit a few of robots to make them relate to the category the button was going to link to, such as the 'Teachers' one where I drew a black cloak over it.
4. For the text, there are two ways of doing this... If you think you are going to change what the buttons do at some point in the near future, you can save the dashboard background now and move on to setting it. Or if like me you intend to keep the buttons as they are, you can add the text with the draw/paint program to make the buttons, then save the dashboard background.

Making the Face GIF:

Here we will be making a simple robot eye blinking GIF. You can use the one I made which I attached to this step, or you can make your very own...

1. Using your draw/paint program, make a new project with black canvas size as the tablet screen resolution size.
2. Fill the canvas with the yellow paint tool, then draw a pair of open eyes with the eyebrows and mouth, then 'Save as' "Eyes Open".
3. Do the same as above, this time making an eyes closed image and changing the position of the eyebrows.
4. Open your web browser and open Ezgif.com, click on 'Choose files' and select the eyes open and closed images. Click 'Upload images' then copy both images to make multiples of each (six of each is good for random eye blinks) and drag them around so you have them in an open > closed > open > closed order.
5. Adjust the delay times, longer times for eyes open (500 milliseconds for example), and shorter times for eyes closed (30 milliseconds or so). Click 'Make GIF' watch the test play to make sure you're happy with it, then click 'Save' to download the GIF to your computer, then send it over to your tablet.

Setting Up the Interface:

With the dashboard and face GIF finished, send them over to the tablet via email, SD card or file transfer. To make the dashboard come to life, we Install and set up the Total Launcher app.

1. Open Total Launcher then press and hold on an empty space until the page shrinks down. Click on 'Edit Off' to toggle it On. Press and hold on all of the default elements on the screen and tap the delete bin icon to start with a black canvas. Swipe across the screen to the other pages and do the same.
2. Press and hold on an empty space until the page shrinks down and while at this stage click on the middle square icon (looks like a little mountain) and click on the landscape picture. Click on 'Image' and then the Plus (+) icon, find your dashboard background picture where it is saved on your tablet, then click on it to add it to your Total Launcher picture library.
3. Click on the dashboard picture then select 'Stretch to fit screen' then name it "Dashboard". Swipe across the screen, make a new page, name it 'Face' and set the landscape background to the colour black. Then click on it to bring the screen forward.
4. If you didn't add dashboard text: Click on the top right Plus icon, select 'Graphic' then 'Text' then 'Default' then drag it over to one of your background buttons you made. Resize it to fit over your button the click the cog icon at the top of the screen. Here you can name it to the website or app of your choice, change typeface, text colour and size, and more, then finish off by saving your changes.
5. If you did add dashboard text: Click on the top right Plus icon > 'Graphic' > 'Image' > 'Default' > 'Color' then choose any colour and drag the slider so it becomes transparent then click 'OK'. drag it over to one of your background buttons you made. Resize it to fit over your button the click the cog icon at the top of the screen.
6. With stage 3 or stage 4 changes made and saved, click on the Play icon. Here you click on 'Action' then 'Launcher action' then scroll down to the bottom and click 'Open URL' Now write or paste in the Instructable page URL of your choice, click 'OK' and then the back button twice to close the element editor. You can follow this stage to add an app by clicking 'Action' and then 'Application' and choose the app you want the button to open such as calculator etc.
7. Follow the above stage to add all of your buttons. And we are pretty much done with the dashboard. Best practice now is to back up your work.
8. Finally, swipe across the screen to open the 'Face' page, click on the top right Plus icon > 'Graphic' > 'Image' > 'Default' > 'Image' > Plus icon > tap on the face GIF to add it to your library > tap on the face GIF > then drag the edges to resize the GIF until it covers the screen. Click the tablet's back button and the face GIF will automatically play. simply swipe between the face and dashboard when needed.
9. For good practice, click on a blank spot on any page, then 'Menu' then 'Backup center'. Click the plus icon to add a new backup of your new launcher layout.

The tablet is now ready to rock and roll. All that needs to be done is attach the tablet to our Instructable robot tool box head, gather some materials, and start making some cool stuff using our new tool box robo buddy such as the Happy Birthday sign I made in the last step.

NOTE: To be courteous, I felt that I should ask the Instructables crew for permission to use the robot images, to which they graciously said "Yes" and actually encouraged it for the 20th Birthday competition. I made the rest of the other icons and images using a PC paint program. Thanks guys.

And there we have it. Our very own practical and fun Instructables robot inspired mobile tool box. I did build this for the Instructables 20th birthday, but I will be keeping this fella around for quite some time as since I finished building it, it has served a very practical purpose in my work area and is a great addition to my tool storage setup, especially as it also has the wheels attached. And with a little redesign you can change the amount of draws you want, or if you choose not to add a tablet, you can simple illustrate the face and even add some red LED's for the eyes. It's your robot tool box so make it how you want it in a way that works for you, because I think everyone should have their own Instructables robot tool box.

Oh, and the birthday sign, I made it using a paint program on my laptop, printed and cut it to size, and attached to some Foamcore with some double sided tape.

A Personal Note:

I just wanted to quickly mention what Instructables means to me personally. I love making things and learning how things are made and how they work. I discovered Instructables not long after they started 20 years ago, and as I watched it grow I finally plucked up the courage to became a member and publish my very first Instructable about 11 and a half years ago now at time of writing this. I really enjoyed the process and planned to do much more. I made some more projects and documented to making process here, but after some family health issues and suffering from quite a bad accident myself, I had to stop making things simply because I was unable to, both physically and financially.

During my recovery, I tried to do things to keep me occupied and one of them things was looking through and reading members Instructables projects. Unfortunately this became a little frustrating because I was seeing all of these wonderful things being made and realising I wasn't able to so I stopped visiting for a while. Bit after a long partial recovery and a change in living circumstances, I started visiting Instructables again and an unexpected feeling hit me out of the blue... I wanted to make something. Instructables gave me the inspiration and motivation to start making things again, starting small and simple at first.

Then I had a larger project in mind to make and this time share. The whole thing made me nervous at first, "Could I actually build this successfully?", "Could I document and compose an Instructable good enough to be understood and worthy enough to be published?". So I figured "what the heck" and made them published my Smart Coffee Table. And the response I got was amazing, great comments, an amazing amount of views, and I even won a prize in one of the Instructable competitions. I really wasn't expecting to win anything, and when I did I was really humbled. I won a prize, that was great, but what was much more important to me was the recognition and validation of what I made and how I wrote my Instructable, the first one for a few years, was worthy enough to even be considered. And that gave me even more motivation to make and share more things, not for prizes, but to get the chance to make something I want, to showcase it, and of course to hopefully help other design and make their own version of my build with instructions, tips and advice with a little bit of humor along the way. So that's my story, and it's no exaggeration to say that Instructables has played a big part in my life... for the better, and for that I will always be grateful.

And when Instructables.com celebrates their 20th birthday in August 2025, I will soon be celebrating my own 52nd birthday in October and looking forward to reading, making and sharing content for many years to come. So I just want to take this opportunity to thank all of the staff, volunteers, and the entire community for their work, comradery and overall support, and making Instructables.com one of the best sites on the web. Thank you.

So congratulations, keep up the great work, love and respect to you all, and thank YOU dear reader for reading.

Happy making. x