If you were at Maker Faire Bay Area this year, you may have been greeted by Roy the Robot. Brian Roe, creator of Roy, is a mechanical designer who has done work in animatronics.
“Hi, my name is Roy. Welcome to Maker Faire.”
According to Brian’s Kickstarter page for Roy, the goal of the project is to “create a human sized animatronic character from only laser cut mechanics and off the shelf hobby servos.”
The initial Kickstarter is for a kit for Roy’s arm. Brian hopes to offer kits for Roy’s eyes and other parts in the future. However, if you were lucky enough to catch Roy at the fair, you got to see his whole upper torso, and even experience his sense of humor.
“I have a joke for you,” said Roy. “What is the body temperature of a tauntaun? Anybody? Anybody know? Luke warm. Get it? Star Wars. Tauntaun. Luke warm. Ha ha ha ha. I am so funny.”
Roy’s a pretty amazing design, but I think Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon’s jobs are safe for the time being.
This week marks the official launch of Make: Volume 39 — Robotics, which drops on newsstands the 27th. Be sure to grab a copy at a retailer near you, or subscribe online right now and never miss another issue.
We are celebrating with five days of robot-related articles, pictures, videos, reviews and projects. Tune into this space for Robot Week!
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