Squishie Scutter Bug Robot

Hi,

In this instructable i am going to show you how to turn a Arexx soccer robot into a cute and charismatic Scutter Bug :)

I wont go into the construction of the robot as it's a kit and comes with its own instructions but the construction of the shell is really simple. Its a great platform to experiment and create lots of different characters. Along with being an introduction to animatronics, the ideas and techniques in the instructible can be applied to other robot kits.

Be warned though as cute as the bug can be he is pretty noisy when on the move

Lets go!

Materials

An Arexx Soccer Robot

Craft foam

Glue dots

a sheet of printable card

a small amount of tape (not pictured)

Tools

Scissors

pen

craft knife and cutting mat

Printer (not pictured)

All the electrical products were sourced from www.reichelt.co.uk, an online retailer for industrial and consumer electronics – they offer a range of tools, components, tech accessories and more – save up to 20% on many products

Print out the Scuttle Bug template above.

Cut out the shapes so that you have a stencil of the scuttle bug

Lay it on the craft foam taping the edges to hold it in place

Mark out the shapes and then cut them out

Take the small "D" shaped piece and attach glue dots to the straight edge and attach this to the narrowest end of the biggest piece. This will be the tail end.

Now place glue dots on the big piece as indicated in the picture above and use it to glue each flap onto the next on to create a shell shape.

Not pictured but make sure that the cable that links the robot to the controller runs down the middle of the robot and off of the end where the white shovel piece is (it makes sense when once you have built the robot)

Now attach the shell to the robot positioning the tail end to the same end as the white shovel.

take the longest strap shape with rounded ends and place glue dots as close to the ends as possible.

You will want to make sure the robots legs are in the same position each side.

Attach the strap to the middle legs making an arc over the base shell, also making sure that it doesn't interfere with the mechanics of it.

Repeat for the smaller rounded ended strap on the back legs but at a slight angle as picture

Now take the smallest strap with the un-rounded edges (its jaw) and attach this to the front legs running parallel to the ground

As with the shell attach glue dots as pictured and attach them to the next flap.

Take the rectangle shape and roll it up.

attach a glue dot at the end and attach to the inside of the head.

attach the loose end to the body to make it like a spring. depending on how bouncy you want the head to be you can experiment with the length

I wont go into to much detail about how to do this as I'm sure you all have your own ideas about how you would like to do this but as you can see i just used simple shapes to create features. You could even attach bits to the strap to make your bug look furry or spiky.

I even attached some feet, if your going to do this make sure to curve the edges as not to interfere with the mechanics

I Named mine "Squishie"

And that's you!
I hope you enjoyed this instructable and as always thoughts/comments/criticisms and even pictures of your own Scuttle Bugs are welcome in the comments below :)