Awesome walking paper robot uses rubber band for power source

First of all: this thing is SO awesome.

The making of this amazing walking bipedal robot is documented in a rapid series of photographs strung into a video. The robot is made almost exclusively of paper, with the exception of some wooden shafts and an elastic band which serves as the power source.

I wonder if the design is based on (or at least inspired by) one of the many tin toy wind-up walking robot designs. It would be nice if I could read the site. Perhaps I will try Google Translate a bit later.

The gears look like they are solid, as if perhaps made up of many sheets of paper glued together in a thick stack. You can spot a crown gear in there if you watch closely. There are some really ingenious construction techniques. This is worth viewing more than once. I think I want to try working in paper sometime soon.

There are PDF files available for download on the site and they may be plans. I haven't had time to explore them yet. If any of the good readers of The Automata Blog finds out what we are dealing with here, please post a comment or drop me a line. Thanks in advance for your help!

See more amazing mechanical paper models on the creator's web site (in Japanese).

[ Thanks Denise! ]

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Seabird Flying Bird model/kit flies by flapping wings

This model bird kit known as The Seabird has a wingspan of 30 inches and flies by flapping its wings. That's a pretty big ornithopter! It is spring: time to head outside to send a mechanical bird into the air, methinks.

Here's where you can get the Seabird Flying Bird Model Kit.

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4 winged rubber-band powered Luna Ornithopter

What makes ornithopters so cool is that they fly by flapping wings just like an insect or bird. As a kid I had the Tim Bird rubber band-powered ornithopter. In the last few years, they have come out with a number of new designs, like this ornithopter available in The Automata / Automaton Store.

The Luna Ornithopter is a kit shown here includes everything you need to make your own four winged rubber-band powered ornithopter with a 14 inch wingspan. You will need to provide a few basic tools and some white glue.

Here's where you can get the Luna Ornithopter Kit (Flies by Flapping Wings!)

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Book: How to Cast Small Metal and Rubber Parts

This gem of a book teaches you how to reproduce or create new casts of brass, bronze, many other metals, and rubber. It covers metal selection, molding sands, mold-making, and how to repair castings. It also features information on core-making, troubleshooting problems, grinding, polishing, and buffing.

From the book description:

Just some of the countless uses you'll find for this potentially profitable skill: making obsolete or vintage car parts, hood ornaments, garden and fireplace tools, kitchen utensils, automotive parts, replacing broken antique parts, reproducing sculpture, plaques, and other art ... all kinds of decorative and useful objects...

Here is a link to How to Cast Small Metal and Rubber Parts (2nd Edition)

[ Thanks Neil! ]

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The utimate rubber-band firing wooden robot

Osamu Kanda has created many interesting automata, but this creation is something else entirely! He's made a ride-on, wooden robot with remote controlled-arms with working fingers and a chest that opens up to reveal a series of Gatling-style rubber-band guns. You wouldn't want to get into a rubber-band war with this man!

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Air Powered and Air Flight Mechanical Toys

Can you believe it? Another new section for the The Automata / Automaton Store. The new section features air-powered toys and various flying toys.

Some of the neat items include:
* X2 Power Flyer kite/glider hybrid
* Propeller-powered trike kit
* Flying Robotic DragonFly
* Easy Star Electric, RC Airplane

Check out these and dozens of other air toys in the new Air Toys store section today!

Rubber-Band Powered Kite Can Fly for 5 Minutes

I have posted recently about a rubber band powered flying ornithopter project and a book on rubber-band powered cars.

Apparently, the model plane kit shown here, called the Stringless Wonder, can fly up to a mile and remain airborne for 5 minutes. A mile? 5 minutes? On rubber band power? It's hard to believe. I guess I can shell out the $10 and find out!

Available as the Stringless Wonder at Edmund Scientific and PP-4 STRINGLESS WONDER KITE at Amazon.com. For the lowest price ($7.95) check out the Stringless Wonder at SK Science Kits.

How to Build Rubber Band Powered Cars & Toys

I don't own this book, but it looks like it has good step-by-step plans for making rubber band powered cars and toys.

The book's table of contents lists at least eight different projects. The excerpt pages I saw on Amazon.com suggest that the book uses lots of clear photographs to show how to make each project. The projects use easy-to-find materials and tools such as rubber bands, cardboard, pencils, push-pins, white glue, and scissors.

Sounds like some cheap, easy, DIY, mechanical toy fun to me.

Check out the book Amazing Rubber Band Cars: Easy-to-Build Wind-Up Racers, Models, and Toys