First Real Look At My Ez-b Controlled Full Size Lis B9 Robot

That is coming out incredible Dave. Most of the club robots are dead ringers for the original, but what you are doing with the EZ-B, takes it to a whole new level.

Here is another picture of the original robot costume. It is in black and white, but it shows the details well.

Dave, a True work of Art if I ever saw one!

Thanks for all the nice comments guys and the better picture.

Something I found out early was that the B9 robot evolved in his "look" as the three seasons of the show progressed. The first season was in black & white so color was not so important in that year. The pic you posted Danger was from then (of course you knew that ). Back then if the set designers wanted to show contrast in colors they would make those things darker and deeper colors like black or gray or red. The next two seasons were in "Living Color"! The set designers did some nice color upgrades to the costumes, set and the robot. I had to choose what version (or season) of the robot I wanted to recreate. I chose to copy mostly season three because I thought that look the coolest. A few of the biggest changes were the quality of the rubber legs and arms, the colored sensor ears and the added gray details to the radar and updated colored chest buttons.

I had a good feeling when I started this build that I could get him to look reasonably close to the original. I had decided early on that some of the major parts that made up the "look" of B9 were past my skills to recreate with any accuracy. These being the bubble, torso, rubber arms. It was real important to me to get him to look original. I had planned to build the tread section and leg supports out of wood and the leg section could have been constructed using black pipe insulation to recreate the rubber ribbed look. Then I found the B9 Builders Club with many of the founding members were offering many of these parts. I was overjoyed to find out the measurements and molds were pulled from the original TV robot and were of very high quality! They were offered unfinished, raw and unassembled but that was just fine with me. I have skills in that area and now I was confident I could recreate a B9 exactly like the one I remembered from the show. I saved up money, worked overtime and sold stuff I had outgrown and soon I was buying these expensive but worthwhile parts. Now for giving him a personality and movement; I was going to just have him be a "puppet" or static model like you see in museums or even painfully learn programming or the Arduino platform. Then I found EZ Robots and I had a way to easily bring him to life. The perfect storm! Most of the rest of the build is mine or methods I copied from other B9 builders. I know I've overbuilt in places and made it more complex then needed but it's been an evolving event with no clear way to put this guy together and get him to work like I want. Also I was having a blast creating this and have no problem with overbuilding if done in a quality and useful fashion. I don't have to worry about weight because he is not mobile and does not use batteries. He'll just stand there looking real cool and plugged into the wall. I have no wood in this robot. Wood warps, cracks, decays and moves. He's all fiberglass, acetal plastic, polycarbonate plastic, steel and a lot of aluminum.

One thing I'm excited about is the ten chest buttons. I have a few buttons attached to things like activating the soil sampler in his tread section, activating a separate Bluetooth receiver that will catch transmissions from a program on my laptop called I-B9 that I can control different phrases and words he says (great when in a convention, party or show setting and want to really interact with the crowd like a puppet) and a couple buttons going to the CF3 sound system to trigger random voice files when I don't want the EZB active and using the MP3 Trigger. I can turn off the main EZB with a flip of a switch in the programming bay near his waist if needed. I also have about 5 other chest buttons attached to ADC ports of one of the three EZB's. This way I can run scripts right from the front of the robot by pushing one of the buttons assigned to them!

Sorry for the long rambling, I get excited sometimes and cant stop myself! blush

Thanks for everything, Dave Schulpius

I don't say this to quibble, Dave, but look again at the picture. Although it is black and white, I don't think that it came from Season One. He has the updated. better looking pants. Also, look at Will Robinson. He looked much younger in the first season.

Again, I am not trying to be nitpicky, just pointing that out.

I agree with you the third season is probably the best one to copy. Sadly by then the crown and radar no longer turned. He had been banged up, repaired, and repainted many times. But, as kids watching the show, we were pretty forgiving. He was the hero and companion that every kid wanted. You're very close to having that dream come true.

I am going to try to get mine as close as I can, but I don't have the time or resources to make it exact. If I focus on every little detail, I'll never finish it. It will be close enough for the average person not to notice.

Keep up the good work on yours. I think that most of us would agree that it is one of the most impressive projects being undertaken here.

Ya know Danger, after I posted the last time I took a closer look at your 1st pic and had that same thought. You may be right! Your first pic may be from a later shot. At the very latest, not far into the second season maybe. Good eye. Back then things were mixed up between Black & White photography and filming and color. Lots of people didn't want to see color take over and liked the B&W look for what ever reason. May be they were trying to capture the serious look and feel of the 1st season. There was some ill will among fans about the show taking on a comic tone as I recall. Same for when the "Talkies" started being made. However my memories don't go back that far!

Thanks for keeping me honest. Keep the fact checks coming!

Dave Schulpius

Dave.. you are a Genius man! uau.. what a piece of art! have you ever think about host a workshop on building, or something. So many people around the world could learn so much from you! best regards from Brazil. Tevans.

wow Tevens, thanks. However those are some big shoes you have me filling. There are lots of other members of this forum that deserve that honor more than me. This is the first robot I've ever built and knew nothing of robotics before I started less than two years ago. What I've done here is testament to EZ Robot, The B9 Builders Club and the internet community.

@Danger For some silly reason this question about what season robot the pictures we were discussing has been bugging me. You'd think I'd have better things to think about.

Anyway, The picture you first posted is from the last season 3. Will's custom and the upgrades to the robot show that (like you said )

Just to prove here are a couple pics from each season. Notice the neck line of Will's shirt and compare it to your picture. The first one below is from the 2nd season. You'll see the second picture below from the 3rd season matches your picture.

Season 2:

Season 3:

Sorry if this is boring to some but I have a blast with things like this. It does help to keep history correct.