After a long time of not updating, I’ve started to built the actual head for the robot using EVA foam, which was my first time using it. The reason I am using EVA foam is that it is lightweight yet firm, easy to cut and form into shapes, and the joining of parts only requires contact glue (other glue will suffice but contact glue gives a better stick). Plus, I know that I will be building as and conceptualizing at the same time as I do not have any blueprint, every little details on the robot will be an impromptu decision I make during the building process, so low price of the EVA foam will allow me to work more freely so that I do not have to be afraid of making mistake and paying a huge sum of money on it.
To start it off, I converted the paper Husky head into EVA model with 10mm thick EVA as a base layer.
The foam is cut with slanted edge to form an angular joint with the pieces at the side, the curves were made by heating up the EVA foam and bent into place, all connections were made with contact cement to make sure it will last overtime.
details were then cut and added to the head , all using EVA foam with knife, contact cement and hot air gun.
after the front details were added, I’ve dissected the head to add a magnet system that ease the maintenance in the future if it is required.
And then, more details were added to the front head.
The front were coated with more than 8 coats of resin and sanded which helps the paint to stick onto the head. (this whole process took about 2 weeks as the resin require time to be fully hardened between the layers. plus coating them while prevent dripping and sanding is a labor intensive process)
and then, the sanded head were airbrushed with primer (to help the paint stick to the head, and also help me to see the surface quality like checking of small bumbs)
After a few primer coat and sanding between the coats, the head were sprayed and mask to create a clean and beautiful spray job.
for the back of the head, details were built with laser-cut parts while LED were soldered and installed.
then, like the front, details were drawn and cut out from EVA foam and sticked onto the back of the head with contact cement. the LED on the back were also tested to see which colour combination looks the best.
As same with the front, the back were resin-coated with many layers and then sanded and primed, meanwhile, for the internal structure, speakers were soldered and installed inside the ear with properly placed velcro to help with maintenance in the future.
for the front of head, acrylic pieces were cut and melted with hot air gun to provide a protective cover for the eye, which two layer of tinted coat were sticked on it to darken the overall feeling and gives it a more compelling eye to the dog head.(and it affect greatly on the quality of the eye on camera, which I hope people will be taking photo/video of it during the FYP show.)
afterwhich, the dog head were masked and sprayed in many layers with model paint.
towards the final after the base colours were masked and sprayed, the corners were touched up with small brush. Water decals from toy models were added to the head to give it a more interesting finishing and make the finishing completed. As in my research, I found that small details is the key factor that differentiate a normal artwork and a insanely impressive one.
For the appearance of the head, lastly, it was sealed off with two thick coat of samurai lacquer spray paint and then airbrushed with a model grade matte clear coat to remove the shine from the lacquer paint (which is too glossy and look like it is a plastic toy.) small details like carbon-fiber vinyl were sticked to the side of the head to finish it off and gives different texture to the dog head.
The process of making the head from start to finish was long, but I’ve learnt many skills as this was my first time using EVA foam, so everything was a good lesson, even from the small details like “how to cut EVA foam properly” is an invaluable lesson for me. And throughout this process, I also learnt that what materials could or could not go with the other, and also how to cause the paint to stick onto the resin firmly and not peel off.
To experiment with speed and delay of Lattepanda with unity to control arduino, which is not bad!
I stated to learn by building chest as it got similar shape of what I want to produce, and after this, I used the skills i learnt from here and applied into the attempt of my R1 Robot.
the overall shape of this is rather similar to the chest so it took a while to get used to this, however after building this, I realized that I don’t know how to make the top of the robot. So I
Side view
Front view
the surface detail was not able to be printed due to the mistake I made during modeling, which creates an non solid surface and therefore not printable.
As there is a saying, a good logo will recognizable in black and white and even in small size. so I think this logo isn’t perfect, but good enough for me.
and then I digitally coloured it.
This will be the general appearance and sizing of the robot and I will probably change it drastically along the way, however I would like to use this as an example to explain about my project. Without this drawing, I normally explain to people by saying “a trash bin alike robot that move around” and by trash bin, I simply meant no limbs and I think it will be rather misleading.
White humanoid with round, smooth features, almost no surface detailing and no styling, just a LED eye or sometimes a screen on its chest. Nope, I don’t want to do it like this.
https://www.adafruit.com/product/870
