Instructables Robot Simulator for Less Than $5

Well hello to all the people that are reading this!

If you read the full instructable, you will learn how to make your very own robot simulator :)

This is a cheap way to make a robot simulator and it can easily be converted into a dodocase.

All you will need is some cardboard boxes, the one in the photo needs to be a box about that size and the other cardboard can be pretty much anything else!

You will also need paper,

Hot glue an the glue gun,

A pencil to mark lines,

Some scissors to cut out things,

A smartphone

A helmet (optional)

At least one whole read through the instructions before you even attempt this project, if you are missing something and you think you can make-do, think again! This needs all the stuff mentioned (except the helmet) so get reading!

Step 1: Making the Hole for Your Smartphone.

You will first have to put a few random dots in the cardboard box (very faintly mark them) and sick it on your head so you are trying to look out of the box, it should be flat on your face.

Now pick a dot that you can see while looking straight ahead, this is what your hole is going to be based on.

Now you can take the box off and put your smartphone in what was your central field of view.

Trace around it and cut it out.

When you have cut out the hole, put it back on your head and make sure you can see straight through the hole, if not you will have to adjust it.

Do not discard the piece you took out of the hole!

It is now time to move onto the next step.

Step 2: Time for the Holder.

Now it is time to make the holder for the smartphone.

You will need to take one of our sheets of cardboard and line it up with the long side of your hole that you just cut, this will be an edge of the tube that will hold your phone so be precise!

Now mark the edges of the hole like shown in the second photo.

You will need to cut along this line -- But first you have to measure the other way! See the third photo, it is aligned on the hole a different way, if you want you can combine the cuts and flaps on one piece of cardboard.

If you are happy using a little more cardboard, go ahead and cut like there is no tomorrow!

Once you have made all your cuts and marks you can trim all the pieces.

You need two narrow pieces and 2 wide pieces.

These will be the individual sides of the tube that will hold the phone.

Time to move on to the next step :D

Step 3: Hot Glue Time ;)

It is now time for the first round of hot glue.

You will need to assemble the sides of the tube like shown in the second photo.

First you will need to make a 90* fold at one of the relevant edges on each piece of cardboard like shown, this will give the glue more surface area to grip.

Now you have to glue them all around the hole you cut on the main cardboard box like shown, the flanges you made will be on the outside so the pieces will want to spring to the inside.

Now you can move on to the next step!

Step 4: Phone Troubles.

In this step we will need to align the phone with the tube and mark your hole in another piece of cardboard.

Do you remember the piece of cardboard I told you not to discard? This is the step you will be needing it in.

Because it is the same size as the phone, it will work perfectly.

What you have to do is try to find the region the camera lens in on your smartphone, poke a small hole here just big enough to see light through.

Turn your phone onto camera mode and line it up with the board (NOT THE CAMERA!!) and make the hole bigger where you need to.

The aim is to get a hole big enough that you can see clearly out of the camera, it is fairly simple but you should take your time.

I made my hole the size of a pencil, after gluing the board onto the tube the phone wouldn't line up right so I made it the size of my finger.

You will need to glue this board on top of the cardboard tube like shown in the 7th photo.

Get the piece of paper and cut some strips out of it, use these to cover any gaps there might be in the tube, the aim is to make it so there is no light coming in from the front.

Now you can move on to the next step!

Step 5: Almost the Last Step!

This is the second-last step.

What you are going to do here is basically create a cradle for your head.

Using hot glue and cardboard, make a mini headband thingy so it sits securely on your head (you don't want to drop that phone now do you?!).

I tried attaching it to a bmx helmet with blue-tac and it was close to falling off a few times.

I suggest you find a stronger way to mount it to a helmet (if you want) or you can just hold it.

Step 6: The Final Step! (testing the Device)

This is the step where everything hopefully holds together and you try out your new toy!

Robots don't have peripheral vision so when you put this device on and look through the camera on your smartphone you also lose all your peripheral vision thus creating a robot simulator!

If you found a secure way of mounting this to your head, try walking around and doing different things like picking up stuff or pouring water into a glass! The options are endless, if you have a zoom on your camera, set it to super lose up and try walking around then!

Thanks for reading this, please share this with your friends and please vote for me in the papercraft contest!