DIY PIXAR's AUTO

 by SHIFT!
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Even though it's fairly unlikely I will be posting a step by step Instructable on him I figured, what with National Robot Week, I could still share a couple of photos of one of my earliest PIXAR builds the villainous Autopilot from WALL·E.  

Back in the spring of 2009, when I was the Public Representative of the wall-ebuilders.com group, we were getting ready for our very first Maker Faire event and I needed something really cool to show off who we were.  While I was a bit pressed for time to build a WALL-E, I was very influenced by a video I saw of another WALL-E builder on youtube who painted a captain's wheel to look like film's villain and was inspired to build my own (with the added modifications of course).

Basically he's a modified wooden ship's helm I purchased at Michael's craft store which I repainted and sanded down for movie accuracy.  His eye is the glass and metal frame from a clock and behind it I set a super bright red LED (inspired by this 'ible).  Additionally all five of his... ship "pegs" can be fully extended to a length of 2" and he's fully equipped with a grabber claw and faux tazer (like the film's).  But perhaps the coolest function is that I also built into him a remote control speaker which I use to control his voice from a MacinTalk enabled computer, giving him that awesome dark monotone voice from the film.

He's been a staple of my booth at both the Maker Faire 2009 and 2010 and here's hoping we get to show off our new creations at Maker Faire 2011!

-M.E.


 
 
Win Guy says: Apr 3, 2011. 7:26 PM
AWESOME! I've been looking for something like this for YEARS! 5/5
Win Guy
SHIFT! (author) in reply to Win GuyApr 4, 2011. 6:52 PM
Well, I'm glad to have helped out then Win Guy! Auto is one of my all time favorite PIXAR characters and he was a ton of fun to create!
Dumchicken says: Feb 4, 2012. 8:56 PM
captain meet me on the bridge
hero 54123 says: Mar 28, 2011. 4:23 PM
looks like Gla-d0s from portal
TheGreatS in reply to hero 54123Aug 6, 2011. 8:26 AM
I was just thinking the same thing... sort of acts like Gla-d0s too. or is it more skynet-ish
SHIFT! (author) in reply to hero 54123Mar 28, 2011. 5:15 PM
LOL, yeah it does kinda! I think the main point was that Auto was supposed to be an homage to Hal 9000 who also sort of shares the same look as GLaDOS, according to TV Tropes' entry Cyber Cyclops.
hero 54123 in reply to SHIFT!Apr 18, 2011. 12:10 PM
you need to make a portal gun next with a lcd lens screen and a blue light to make a projector when you press a button on it, so it looks like a portal......
splazem says: Jul 11, 2011. 6:29 PM
Awesome! 5-Stars.
Flying_MashedPotatoes says: Feb 26, 2011. 2:27 PM
(removed by author or community request)
jamiec53 in reply to Flying_MashedPotatoesMar 10, 2011. 8:15 AM
The whole point of a photo 'ible is to show off something that you've made, not necessarily to tell us how to make it.
jamiec53 in reply to Honda EnochMar 31, 2011. 8:20 AM
This site is also for sharing the awesome things that you've made with others to impress and inspire them :)
SHIFT! (author) in reply to Flying_MashedPotatoesMar 1, 2011. 6:48 PM
...Did I ever say it was one? Also, I'm pretty sure pretty much anything posted on this site is considered an "instructable", there's just varying categories for type.
figgalicous says: Mar 10, 2011. 10:24 AM
Fantastic work, congratulations.
jamiec53 says: Mar 10, 2011. 8:15 AM
Nice!
SHIFT! (author) says: Mar 7, 2011. 9:31 PM
Good News everyone! DIY PIXAR just got re-accepted into the Maker Faire 2011! Hope to see everyone there for awesome home built fun!
Jedrokivich says: Feb 23, 2011. 8:13 AM
Nice! You should do a 343 Guilty Spark!
Kasm279 in reply to JedrokivichFeb 24, 2011. 3:32 PM
Agreed!
dhymers says: Feb 24, 2011. 8:34 AM
Make some characters from Portal !!! :D
Technologic in reply to dhymersFeb 24, 2011. 2:04 PM
The same thing came to mind for me too. It is very Portal-sy. Changing the dark voice to a crazy super-sarcastic robotic female voice would be cool.
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That is an awesome piece of work! Now all you need to do is to make a full instructable :D
Kiteman says: Feb 22, 2011. 4:56 AM
Oh, this is superb!

You have got to post a step-by-step of this!

SHIFT! (author) in reply to KitemanFeb 22, 2011. 10:11 AM
Thanks for your kind response Kiteman! But I unfortunately even if I wanted to post a step-by-step instructable about this I probably wouldn't be able to, although I can still answer any questions you have about him!
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