Hello Everyone, We just joined your community and love it - two of us are sharing the account - a seven year old boy and his Mom near Buffalo, New York. After attending a maker faire, Carl (the boy) asked if we could build a lifesize R2D2 that would move, spin his head, "talk", recognize him as in "hi Carl", follow him around and follow voice commands ("Stop R2").
I (Carol - mom) have been doing tons of research and am teaching Carl soldering by working on simple electronics projects. I joined astromech.com and began gathering all the information I could over the last four weeks.
I ran across EZ robot about a week ago and thought it looked like a great choice for our project! WE began looking at several of the projects on this site and are amazed! That's it for now - we will continue our research and early work and keep you posted on our R2 build.
The blank dome (R2's head) is on it's way and we are saving our money. Carol and Carl
Hey Carol I'm from wheatfield/ just outside Niagara Falls. Good luck with your project and welcome!
Welcome to the community. You are going to love it here.
Alan
Welcome... don't be afraid to ask questions... we won't laugh.... much
I promise....
P.S. R2 D2 is a great project. A few guys on here are making some extremely cool R2D2's...
Welcome to the forum! You are two people that I love to see on the forum.
Robotics is a male dominated industry. I love to see women get involved with robotics. This is a very important dynamic as women do some things far better than men and this industry needs more women in it. The makeup of your mind is needed in this hobby/industry. Thank you for joining this community.
I also love seeing young people join the community. The potential that young people have to make huge impacts on this hobby/industry is untapped in my opinion. Their minds are very quick and sharp and not bound by the same limits that ours are. They are growing up in a very exciting time and what they will see accomplished and will be able to accomplish in this field is far beyond what we can imagine. Great job as a parent to help your child achieve their potential in this field.
We are here to help. If/when you get stumped on an issue, there are many people here willing to help. Thank you for choosing EZ-Robot and this community. I believe that you will be impressed with the technology and the ease of programming the robot to do amazing things. We all learn something new all the time from each other here. I look forward to watching your project and learning with you as you go.
becklecy WoW, great to read your post. You and Carl have just joined the neatest and very knowledgeable robotic community on the planet. I wish you much success during your build of a really cool robot. As others have posted, we're all here to build and support other builders in getting their concepts to reality and smooth out the bumps in the road,
Hi Carol and welcome. I can't add much to what the others have said except that I'm looking forward to seeing the R2 you two build. I'm nearing completion of a full size B9 from the old show Lost in Space. When I get done I plan on building a R2 Droid. I'm sure I'll be asking you two for advice when I get there.
Cheers, Dave
Thanks everyone for your kind words, enthusiasm and generosity, offering your time and knowledge! I look forward to a time in the not too distant future when Carl and I can contribute our knowledge and experience too!
Thanks for the introduction! Building a r2 from scratch will be a lot of fun - and an experience that your son will be telling his grand children someday!
I started an r2 a few years ago. Ive been meaning to finish it - however it's not from scratch like yours. I cheated and used an old toy to modify with ezrobot parts. Soon as I can find some new desk space, I'll finish it !
Welcome to the forum. I've only been here a short time and it's already been quite a ride. And I don't even have my JD yet.
You will have a ton of fun building the R2 I'm sure. There will be frustrations too, but the rewards will outweigh the problems. The learning experience will be invaluable for Carl. Robots are finally coming into their own in this new century and the demand for people to create them will be great. Both in industry and private sectors. As others have said, this is the best place for learning by doing about robotics. You did your research well.
@DJ Sures I think modifying toys to make them what they should have been in the first place is a great idea. I followed with great interest your videos on modifying a Wall-E with EZ parts. I plan on doing the same at some point in the near future. Mostly, in the robots I plan on working with, I'm going for "cute." I like cute. Azumanga Dioh is my favorite anime series. My inspirations are mainly the robots Robi and Nao. There are several videos on Youtube of each. I plan to bring as much of the cute factor to JD as I can. As well as lively banter and lots of interaction. I wanted a Nao but don't have a spare $8,000 USD for it. Even the Robi is about $1100 or so and takes forever to assemble because you have to get it (by subscription) in parts over a period of 70 weeks! Not all that sturdy or expandable either. But it still makes a great role model for what I am planning. Now, if I can just duplicate the cute little anime character voice it has, but with speech synthesis.
I take it that phalanx of JDs in the picture are destined to be display models in the Brookstone stores?
Welcome! My name is Sean Moore. I had one of the R2D2's that you may have seen at the maker fair @ The Buffalo Museum of since. I'll be glad to help you in your quest to build an R2D2. You can reach me at: Sean@a-51x.com or https://www.facebook.com/sean.moore.961993 or here on EZRobot.
You will find the folks here at EZ-Robot are great to work with and you'll find a lot of R2 information at astromech.net
Welcome to the community
we messaged on astromech.net about ez-robot. As you can see everyone is very helpful and enthusiastic here. Goodluck and happy building!
Aaron
Sean - your R2 was indeed one of the ones we saw that started this journey!
this was at buffalo lab - they later used lettuce and onions to do the same thing!Aaron - your message to us on Astromech and particularly your build log increased our understanding of EZrobot and reinforced the impulse to try it out for our R2 build. We joined Astromech the day we got home from the Maker faire and EZ robot last week. we have also joined the Buffalo Lab - a local makers group with a workspace and tools that hosts potlucks on Wednesdays and a circuitry "lesson" once a month (arduino) and also one on 3-d printing. www.buffalolab.org We are enrolled in a basic circuitry course on Coursera and have been eagerly watching the EZ tutorials here. https://www.coursera.org/course/tinkering We have completed two basic soldering courses and have some mini robots on the way from Makershed. http://www.makershed.com/ We can devote alot of time right now because it's summer break! (I am a college professor in theater/film scenic design) We are tracking our dome up the coast from Florida and it should be here soon! I am taking into consideration all the paint options for the dome and considering what a 7 year old might accomplish successfully - currently I may have the possibility of having "stickers" made and cut into the blue shapes on R2's dome which isn't a purist solution but may be right for us for now - there is the option of removal in the future so I'm going to do a test and see. Well, I could go on and on but I'll stop here. Happy building everybody! Carol and Carl the joy of accomplishment - a circuit board that lights up and makes sound!
Wow, I'm truly impressed with the method that your approaching this build as a newcomer to the world of robotics and electronics. Your taking all the right steps that will empower you and your son to understand the challenges ahead of you both. Taking the electronic and soldering courses are a wonderful idea! A lot of people that has never worked with electronics just jump into these things. Then after they blow things up or the thing they're building doesn't work correctly, they only then take the time to learn what is needed to get by. Either that or they get frustrated and mad, blame them self's or the company that sold them the items and quit. Your taking the correct path to success and learning life long skills that will aid you both in many area of interest and need. Of course being in the teaching trade this comes naturally to you and shows what a quality and concerned teacher and mother you are. Well done and I admire you for this. I repeat what I said before; We'll be coming to you two very soon for advice.
@Sean, Way to go in being an inspiration man!
I to am impressed with your enthusiasm. I cant say things any better then anyone else has already said. But I will add this. What you are giving your so right here right now is so much more then just the adventure of building an R2 or any other robot. The skills he will learn will stay with him for a lifetime. Many years from now you will look back at your R2 and he will think, it all started here. This I know from my own experience . I my self have attention defecate. I also have thyroid issues. My grandparents bought me a computer back in 1986. That started me on an incredible journey. I now run a small computer shop of my own. Real small shop that is, but none the less not bad for a Kid whom the doctors said I'd probably not make it passed 6th. grade. My spelling is still poor at best. My math skills could be better. But give me a computer and some wires and I can do cool things. My point is that my grandparents lit a fire, a passion in me back in 1986. The same fie and passion you are lighting in your sons mind now, will carry him far in life. Not to mention how much fun he will have as well.
Thanks Dave and Sean for your kind words and encouragement! This community has been so welcoming and generous - everyone I've encountered from the maker faire, to astromech, to EZ robot, the Buffalo lab, the tinkerer's studio - all willing to help and share, and excited about the things they do - cool, very cool. And way to go Sean - don't ever let the education system, or any system for that matter, tell you who you are or what you can or cannot accomplish. Real learning happens everyday everywhere - go for you for following your own path. What if Jacob Barnett's parents had accepted the so called expert diagnosis that he would probably never tie his shoes - what a loss that would have been for the rest of us. Carol and Carl