Giant Outdoor Robot

so...a giant robot...yep 4,2 meter high (about 13.77 ft) build to stand outside as an eyecatcher for a local festival.

oh, and we added a guitar to him (that will be a different instructable) to advertise a local festival to...

off we go.

Step 1: Materials and Equipment

materials we used to build this robot:

- 18mm waterproof multiplex

- wooden beams 90cm by 90cm

- wood screws 180mm

- M20 metal treadwire

- M20 nuts and bolts

- watersealing paint

- outdoor paint

equipment we used to build this robot:

- track saw

- panel saw

- heavy duty powerdrills

- diamond coated drills

Step 2: General Idea-design Stage

first step was to make a sketch of the type of robot that we needed to build. based on that design I could work out some measurments.

before building the robot full size I tried out some things by making a styrofoam small robot. This stage is perfect for troubleshooting. a lot of design errors had to be resolved before we could start building the giant size one. mostly stability and weatherproofing were a big issue.

the robot had to be outside during 5 months at the belgian coast - this means it had to withstand a lot of wind (worst case about 7 bf so windspeeds of about 120km/h) and rain.

Step 3: The Feet & Legs

I quickly decided to put the robot on a concrete slab of 2 meter by 2 meter so the ground on which the robot could stand was a set dimension I could work from.

so the dimension of the feet on the ground are 1,8 meter by 1.8 meter and the feet+legs are 1,8 meter high.

we started with the feet based on the drawing and styrofoam example. we first constructed the frames of the legs in 90cm*90cm wooden beams and finished them with the multiplex

the legs are hollow on the inside for easy acces and transport

Step 4: Torso

after the legs looked the part we started constructing the torso of the robot. again building the frame out of 90cm*90cm wooden beams and finishing the frame with the multiplex. at this point the robot was already 3 meter (9.8ft) high. each part of the robot is mounted on the inside (at the back) with M20 bolts to make sure everything remained stable.

Step 5: The Head

this part of the build took it over the 4 meter point. the robot head is actually is simple box (again framing 90cm*90cm beams and finishing with multiplex) mounted with M20 Bolts.

mostly the height was proving to be difficult to work at because the robot is wide at the bottom but keeps getting smaller to the top it was a bit of a hassle to put the ladders up to make it comfortable to work at.

Step 6: The Arms

most difficult part of the build. both arm had to be angled along the body of the robot.

building the arms wasn't hard, mounting them on the robot in a safe way and making sure the stayed secure to the robot was...

the are A LOT of M20 bolts holding those arms up.

Step 7: Taking the Robot Apart for Painting

we then dismounted everthing into seperate parts to paint the robot.

because we used M20 bolts to assemble the robot it also made it easier to disassemble each pieces.

we used a 2 component grey paint for outdoor use to make sure the multiplex would be sealed from the water.

Step 8: Reassembling the Robot on Site

after painting it was time to assemble the robot on site.

the concrete slab was laid in the sand first. the legs were then secured to the concrete slab using a chemical anchor and M20 bolts.

we - of course - had some help from a bulldozer lifting up each pieces of the robot. because all the holes for the M20 bolts were already made the reassambling was pretty straightforeward.

we did add some additional Bolts to secure the arms even more safely to the robot.

Step 9: Finishing Off

once the robot was installed...the grey didn't really pop out as we tought it would...so we painted the robot the same color as the one on the banner. which was the base of our robot.