News · Dec 15, 2006

By Eric on 2006-12-15

Martin and I were asked a judge a student review at Art Center in Pasadena. The project is to make a robot. Most of the students have had no experience in doing this sort of thing, so it was sort of an exercise using new tools, and methods of production. A lot used 3d printing, and many other methods all the way to sanding and painting. The idea is that they had to learn something by making a robot.

Sort of a character, this dude made a border patrol robot that cruises around and laser blasts illegals. The laser is intended to be a stun type of thing, so “they” can be arrested or sent back to wherever they came from. His back story, and presentation was great. It was very science fair and his robot had a military/government vibe.

Gorilla robot. Interesting and you can see the scale of this robotic “silverback”. Not bad at all.

This is a surveyor type of robot. This looks ready to be used as a sci fi film model. It was cleanly made and had an automotive concept car vibe. It’s Art Center… that’s what happens.

Whoa a pink cat. Like an Aibo, but pink and cute.

This might be one of the prizes of the bunch. The guy who made it had a Santino type of vibe going on. He had answers for everything, and had a funny personality. He really digs Transformers, so he created a SD version that is fully functional. Almost.

It can transform into a ship.

He made graphics which he used for another class project, and made a box and a whole background sales type of display. This was cool.

This is a Nap Dog based on lap dog. It has multifunctions and looks professional and ready to sell. It looks like something that can really exist on the shelves.

Mouse vacuum cleaner. The tail can wag while is sucks down lint. My suggestion was to turn this into a virtual pet. The more it eats, the happier it will be.

The Wyvern… Isn’t this a D&D character, but robot? Nicely done.

Whoa, it’s Herbie mixed with a Patlabor. Cute and tough at the same time. It’s sort of a dorky robot that can kick ass? Look at how small them arms are next to the head!

Lineman robot. Plays football. This has tons of moveable parts, and is engineered well, although it’s just a prototype. Yes, the arms broke off as he showed it to us, but it’s neat.

Whoa, the sister robots with big heads. These didn’t quite work out although I liked the influence from Playmobil. This could be great.

This might be one of the neatest pieces. Part Miyazaki, maybe some Star Wars, this piece had a great look. It seems like an evil and dark robot that might be capable of something nice.

Overall, the quality of the projects are insane. Could you make anything that looked like this? I was expecting more blocks of wood type of robots, but to see them look finished and pro is surprising.

Thanks to “Detex” Scott Mitchell for the invite.