You may recognize this picture. Especially, if you are a long-time reader of this blog. It is a model of the Star Wars robot R2D2. It has LEDs that light up; it is crude. Most importantly, it is something made almost entirely out of recycled materials. The main body is a Healthy Choice soup can. The dome is from the top of a fabric softener bottle. The arms are made of small liquor bottles. The front foot came from my dentist. It had a small amount of dental floss in it originally, and the main feet are automobile deodorizers that I found on the side of the road. There are parts that I had to purchase, however. I used hot glue, two hex head bolts with matching nuts, multiple colors of spray paint, some vinyl tape, light emitting diodes, a few resistors, a battery holder, 3 AA batteries, and a switch.

This is the first one that I built to use as an example for a Camp Quest AZ activity called “Tin Can Robots.” In all I built 5 examples: A Dr. Who Dalek, this R2D2, Rosie the Robot from the Jetsons cartoon show, Rocket Man, and Robby the Robot from the movie Forbidden Planet.

I’ve built 2 other R2D2 models: One I donated to a charity auction and the other I gave to the Bay Area R2D2 Builders when I went there for a Maker Faire. I can say that this one, the original, is the worst of the lot. It was my first one and I had to figure things out while it was under construction.

I decided to build a fourth one. As you can see, I’ve collected all the necessary parts. I intend to build it and report on the build here on my blog. It will keep me busy for a couple of day, and if you want to follow along, it can keep you busy for a couple of days too. You can ask me questions about the build in the comments. I’ll do my best to be as descriptive as possible, but I may miss a few details that need clarification.

This should be fun. We’ll start tomorrow with cleaning up the parts…