In case you didn’t make it to our open studio last weekend, here’s your own little mini studio tour.
(image courtesy Mike Rivamonte)
Most of these robot figures (often called "nerdbots") are made from found objects, purely for your esthetic appreciation - and yet one can't shake the feeling that they might one day come to life (as if in some Stephen King story) and invade your cubicle, making shrill R2D2 sounds and mounting attacks on, say, a hated monstrous copy machine in the corner.
Mike Rivamonte's metal sculptures are "interpretation of robots and spacemen capable of flight and mischief. Rare and collectible objects from all over are transformed to create expressive unique characters." -
The detailing on these robots is exceptional:
(images courtesy Mike Rivamonte)
Recent updates from Nemo Gould are quite surreal:
Nicholas and Angela from "Nerdbots" site build the said "bots" out of scraps of... pretty much anything vintage and cool:
(image credit: Nerdbots)
Check out the whole army of them in this Flickr set. Being small, these adorable items are really quite affordable. Lipson Robotics joins the show with his mini-robot set:
(images credit: David)
Little metal buddies of all sorts inhabit a gallery page of Guy Robot, Rich Muller, a robot-maker extraordinaire -
Shown on the right, is how they start their existence - in a bin.
(images credit: Rich Muller)
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Sensuous Robot Shapes
...or at least, robots more humanlike in shape, having legs and even female curves. Brotron creator Greg Brotherton says that he strives to make "heroic icons", not just sculptures, investing ordinary (found) object with fantastic, sometimes diabolical, function.
You gotta love that robot lady's illuminated corset bra, featuring junked pieces of 1955 DeSoto Fireflite:
(see our article Ladies and Robots for more ideas in this direction)
This is truly a classic - a "Rise of Discord" statue features almost Greek proportions and a riveted, highly evocative face...
(images credit: Greg Brotherton)
More "devices" are in this gallery, such as "The Migraine Machine" and various death ray blasters.
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We should put Tom Cruise inside one of these
The Saucer Bots by Andy Hill were prominently featured inside our "Biscotti" once, but here's a refresher:
All models have a pilot inside and ready to fly off at the first notice:
(images credit: Andy Hill)
His "Big Bots" are also enticing and sell very quickly:
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Stainless Steel Chickens
Scott Sauer makes "Scottoons": humorous, whimsical sculptures from found scraps of metal . With his exclusive permission, here are some highlights of his collection.:
(image credit: Scott Sauer)
That shining example of robotic design above is called a Munbot - a robot, or a bug zapper? Probably both.
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Faster than you can say "Leviton Vaporizer"... you will be dispatched in style
Time to cover some ray guns on DRB. Again. Yes we love them, so bear with us... Andy Hill was on a ray gun kick recently. Like with his Andybots and Saucerbots, retro-future was again his inspiration (along with recycling and reusing). His "Leviton Vaporizer" seem to have some steampunk influence, too:
(images credit: Andy Hill)
His site has a disclaimer: "All ray guns for sale here have been deactivated and the power cells drained...." Good! No unnecessary casualties.
Brotron weighs in with their own entry: heavy, the 1940s radio-styled "Electrolux Death Ray":
(images credit: Greg Brotherton)
Go Hero site links to another prime example of "Man of Tomorrow" weaponry: The Tesla Directed Energy Weapon by Russell Williams:
Leotron
Nerdbots is brought to you by Nicholas and Angela from Kansas city. These people are my kind of people. The kind of people who one day decide they need to build a robot, dreams that I too share deeply with them. Using items they pick up at antique and thirft stores, they painstakingly create robot sculptures that are literally the greatest creations I have ever seen. I have no more words, just go to their site and take a long, long look. Then buy me one.
Rhapsody - freaking sweet NES pad win
Weston
Vita-Mix
Oddmund
Guy
Eico III
Channel Master
Link The Nerds http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdbots/sets/72157605524053280/
                                                           
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