Wooden Robot

Using poplar wood, I cut several 3 to 4 inch lengths of 1/2 inch by 1 3/4 inch wood pieces, drilled a 1/2 in hole in the center of them. I then cut them in half at the center hole. This allows the wood dowel to become the hing. The dowels were cut in 1/2 inch lengths and stained. Cutting 2 inch by 2 inch poplar I cut 2 inch cubes and then cut several more to make the head, and hands. The body is a larger 3 inch by 3 inch cut in lengths of about 4 inches.

You can make your own size and shape. I just gave my basic cuts to give you an example if you would like to build one of your own!

Drilling arm holes and neck holes in the body allow you to position the head and arms.

The fun part is gluing them all together to make a life like wooden robot with a personality... the next few steps provides the detail for each section and why some joints are not glued and which joints require gluing.

Cut wood pieces for your robot, Poplar, hand cut with a hand saw

Wood Glue, I use Titebond II which is a very good wood glue and makes a very strong bond once dried.

1/2 wood dowel

3/8 wood dowel

A hammer to put pegs into arm pieces

Drill and drill bits to fit the size of your wooden dowels: used for hinges in knee area and arms

This part is critical to have the robot stand correctly.

Glue the legs and feet, while the glue is still wet, place the body to make sure that the robot will not topple over and that the center of gravity works for the leg placement/bend.

Once you feel that the placement is right, glue the body on the top of the legs.

Set aside and let the glue cure.

I did not use glue on the neck or the ear pegs. If you have drilled deep enough you should be able to use the hammer and seat them into the socket.

If you want a different look you can add dowels for the eyes or mouth, be creative with the dowels and you can even add an antenna on the top of the head with a small dowel.

The hands are glued but the upper dowel into the shoulder is not glued, that way you can move the robots hands.

Put the robot all together and push the dowels into the arm socket, do not glue these in place, but push them into the socket of the body as well. Now you will also be able to position the arms, hands and head of the robot.

I think it is fun to position the robot that allows it too look like it has a personality of it's own!

Be sure to watch the animation!

Paint, decoupage with paper, stain the robot, use your creativity and make it your design!