REFURBISHMENT OF BIRTHDAY GIFT " ZOBOT ORION " STOP MOTION ANIMATION ROBOT PUPPET MADE FROM FOUND OBJECTS

This piece was sent back to me by my friend Orion, over ten years after I made it for him as a birthday gift. It was not well built and at one point Orion had dropped and smashed it. He asked me to fix it for him and mailed the pieces from his home in Seattle, to mine in LA. He also told me I had full artistic license to upgrade or change it in any way. I decided to rebuild the robot puppet (or zobot as I like to call it) so it was suitable for stop motion animation. Its joints would need strengthening, and articulation, and it also needed to be able to hold a pose (to be photographed and animated).

Downloads

REFURBISHMENT OF BIRTHDAY GIFT " ZOBOT ORION " STOP MOTION ANIMATION ROBOT PUPPET MADE FROM FOUND OBJECTS

Supplies

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the original broken robot pieces from friend (see picture)

wooden knob

bottle top

plastic light fixture

beer can widget

plastic, rubber and metal tubes

wooden dowels, beads and discs

electronic wires (red and white)

paper lollypop sticks

black and silver spray paint

spring from a retractible pen

coloured adhesive circles

Loosely Reassemble Broken Robot

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I weakly glued the original piece to see what it originally looked like. I did not document the initial building of the piece as I built it over 10 years ago. I had not seen it in all that time.

Strengthen the Joints With Wooden Dowel

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After I had reminded myself what the zobot looked like, I strengthened its joints with dowel, drilling tight holes to push the dowel in, leaving some parts permanently glued, and others movable, but with friction.

Make Hands

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I found some small plastic beads and drilled tiny holes in them, into which I glued broken incense stick ends as fingers. I then added some small sections of rubber tubing, to resemble 'knuckles' and 'finger tips'.

Modify the Arms for the Hands

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I extended the arms to hold the hands by drilling into the end of the paper lollypop sticks and inserting wooden dowel. This then slotted into the cuffs of the hands.

Undercoat and Silver Spraypaint

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I love this step! Now its looking like a real machine! I spray black first as it really makes the silver pop. I reccomend two coats of each.

Add a Spring to Its Neck

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It was nice to add some real robot like metal to such an organic piece. The spring was out of a pen.

Add Nose and Eyes

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I drilled into the head and attached a piece of rubber tube with dowel, then glued on two adhesive coloured circles that I had bought in a bookstore many moons ago. Viola finished robot... or Zobot Orion!