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02 : Grabbing Ideas (May 16, 2004) (version 0.2)

Slow on the Thinktank lately? May be it's because you haven't look around enough! Buiding a robot could be based upon many things. But mostly the stuff you need should have a modern feel to it.

Look around to see all the Hi-tech gadgets around you, and You'll see that opportunities abound.

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Example: A transformer Cellphone.

The Idea came to me, while I was sitting at a table at A&W, waiting for my friends to show up. I start doodling and meddling with an idea of a transformer bot. While I was contemplating whether to call them for being late, my right hand has found it's target.

The Sketch I roughed on paper was more detailed than the final product, which is as usual. Since You should explore the idea to the fullest than settles upon a workable solution. Eliminating non-workable ones along the way, but filing them as 'Future reference' later. That way, you'll have more ideas to back up on when you're in a jam. (and that happens alot more than you think.)

I left the LCD alone, since It can be used as a special ability.(See 'Soundwave' from 'Transformers' for reference.) And the thing does look nifty.

At first I was to abandoned the leg and used a floating based for this, but It didn't feel right as things went along. The Feet wasn't quite balanced, so I had to modify a kind of tripod type distribution into it. The Joint is typical Tranformer type, which means that it's not realistic. A good thing about transformers, is that you normally throw the laws of mechanics out the window, And settles for a 'Toy' type one. (See 'Robotech' , 'Transformers', 'Voltron' for reference on what I mean.)

The Resulting product uses a total of 43 colors(the numbers given by photoshop in it's conversion.) Not exactly an economic way to do things, I admit. But it gets the job done fast and straight to the point.

Note: You should try other things to see if they could be made to fit. There have been robots that made out of vehicles(the takes on these are just endless!). Perhaps the SchoolBus that pass in front of your house everyday? The Neighbor's jeep?

At anyrate, as long as you keep your imagination drive fresh. I'm sure you'll find a way to render something in Pixel. Remember, it's your drive that's the limit!