iHerr

After a long hiatus from working on hobby robots, I’m beginning a new robot project. For information on my first robot, “Herky Jerky”, click HERE. For a PDF article about my second robot that uses a gameboy camera to locate and track objects, click HERE.

Anyway, my third robot will have a smooth fiberglass composite shell over an aluminum chassis. Here’s a rough drawing of how I intend the robot to look (eventually):

In order to make a foam and ‘glass composite shell, I’m starting with an aluminum chassis that holds the main locomotion motors. Here’s a front view:

Here’s a side view:

On top of that, I’m hot-gluing up layers of 1-inch thick polyisocyanurate foam sheeting (a.k.a. Dow “Tuff-R” available at Home Depot). The foil is easily peeled off of the foam, and then the hot glue allows a 3-D shape to be built up by stacking layers together.

Some essential tools for cutting and shaping this type of foam are the following: Stanley SurForm files, a razor knife, a cheap glue gun and glue sticks (I’m using the low-temp variety), and a sanding block or two.

Once the layers are cut out, glued together, shaped, and sanded, the resulting shell looks like this:

Corner view:

Side view:

Bottom view:

The next steps are to make indentations in the foam for the details, and then do a couple of layers of fiberglass and polyester resin on the outside. Stay tuned.